Joe Connolly wrote:

Just a quick FYI update on the Commonwealth's intensions

PS - MS is also adding PDF support so it doesn't matter

Yes and no.  We're in agreement on the Commonwealth's intentions, but you're missing the point when you state the fact that Microsoft will be adding PDF support in the next version of their MS-Office product (which curiously they didn't announce until after the Commonwealth stated its new requirements for open formats).  It both ignores the OpenDocument format for editable documents (although there are rumors that MS may be supporting this in the future, too) and the fact that PDF support only currently only exists in a *future* version of MS-Office.

The key point I was trying to make is that we've already been supporting open formats.  We're not going to have to rework the TAHG information later when Microsoft finally gets around to adding PDF support and/or ODF support.  The TAHG project is using PDFs now.  This means less work, less rework, and ultimately less expense.

Saugus is actually in pretty good shape with regards to open formats (at least on the public side of things).  In addition to the TAHG project's lesson plans, all the Town by-laws are also available in open formats. They're available not only as PDFs, but also other open formats including the Newton book format for hand held computers and the editable SXW format (which is essentially an earlier version of the OASIS OpenDocument format -- as each of them now is getting updated it is also getting converted to the current version of ODF).

I wrote a bit about Saugus' position with regards to open formats on the Saugus Community Blog; you can see the article here:

http://www.livejournal.com/community/saugus/4324.html

and others have written too about Saugus being ahead of the curve in this area; a quick Internet search for "Saugus" and "OpenDocument" (or similar) pulls up some instances.