When one thinks of international human rights, one thinks of The Hague – home of the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court, and the situs of an increasing number of Tribunals chartered to redress the assaults on human dignity that inexcusably continue to plague this planet.  It is therefore appropriate that The Hague has been chosen to witness yet another pronouncement in defense of human rights.  That pronouncement has been titled The Hague Declaration by the new international group, called the Digital Standards Organization (“Digistan,” for short), that crafted it.  In this blog entry, I’ll talk about what the Declaration is all about, and what it is intended to achieve.

The basic premise is that as more and more of our basic freedoms (speech, assembly, interaction with government, and so on) move from the real to the virtual world, care must be taken to ensure that our ability to exercise these freedoms is not inadvertently eroded or lost.  And on the opportunity side, the Internet and the Web provide incredible and unique ways to bring the benefits heretofore enjoyed only in developed countries to those struggling for equality of opportunity in emerging countries.

– Andy Updegrove (Consortium Info Blog) ‘Introducing The Hague Declaration‘

Want to make a major decision with little oversight and little notice? Just do it just before or on a holiday. Every time I take some time off with my family I get back to find out that some major change or event in the ongoing Mass ODF saga (or marriage, or the Big Dig, or Cape Wind) has occurred. Seriously, if it is something people actually care about, but is influenced by special interests with deep pockets, the decision is made when the majority of the state population is eating turkey, unwrapping presents, dressing their kids in costumes, watching people run across Boston, or in this case trying to celebrate the birth of a democracy; (no irony there). At least it is not a smear campaign again, it is just the Massachusetts Government rolling over. The good news is, we, the citizens of Mass have a chance to respond.

UPDATE: Seems I am not the only person having problems, so is the British National Archive. The solution seems to be the ones who created the problem, Microsoft and OOXML. Hope they actually read the 6000 page specification and know how to implement useWord97LineBreakRules.

UPDATE 2: Sun releases it’s OOXML/ODF converter for MS Office. And no it will not handle Visio OLE embedded objects, as that is impossible for a non MS developer. Only Microsoft can do that, and they wont. Also here is an unintended answer to the question ‘Isn’t choice always good for the customer?’ I have seen on every blog about ODF and OOXML. And in answer to Marry Jo, because it is impossible for me to implement the OOXML standard completely. Only Microsoft can do that, and thus is not actually a standard by any rational sense.

Microsoft has asked to have the Mass IDT document standard changed to include their OOXML format for the third (official) time. This time they got their wish. The language is almost identical to the language written by Microsoft lawyers which was rejected previously. Pamela Jones has a fantastic write up on the language changes and some of the ramifications. Andy Updegrove has two articles so far, and is always a good resource for what is going on at the state house with regard to ODF.

A review draft of ETRM v. 4.0 is available for review and comment from July 2nd through July 20th, 2007. Comments should be submitted to standards@state.ma.us. This major release of the ETRM updates content published in version 3.6, introduces the new Management Domain, enhances the ETRM’s format for accessibility and usability as well as provides additions and updates to existing language and technical specifications. For a detailed outline of major revisions made in this version please consult the Major Revisions for ETRM v.4.0 document.

Please take the time to review the facts and form a personal opinion. There is a good overview page at the groklaw site. Please take part and have your voice heard. I don’t care if you are for or against the change, as long as you are heard. If you have a pension, contract with the state, have invoices with the state, deal with the executive branch, or just want to read information on what is happening in our government, you care about this.

So whats the big deal? Why not two standards? Personally I would not have a problem with OOXML if it were actually open, unencumbered, and implementable without signing an NDA which makes you unhireable by companies which write competing products. I hope Adobe makes a few minor changes so that PDF can be added. Actually, with the new language, I think it can right now. Not sure if Microsoft intended that! I have a question to anyone reading this. Have you ever tried to open an old office document, say from the 95 era? How about one with an embedded OLE object (a spread sheet in a word document, etc). Did it work? It would not have worked if the document was OOXML either.

I recently tried to open one such document which was part of some materials sent to the lawyer who worked on a patent I contributed to. There were a number of diagrams written in Visio which were not used but are of interest to the current owner of the patent; a.k.a. my employer. The first problem I had was that I did not have Visio installed on my computer (it is not part of ANY Office Suite). Even after I had the new version installed, it would not work as the old OLE system embedded the DLL entrypoints to the old version of Visio which no longer exist in the new version. You can’t install Windows 95 on a new computer due to driver issues. You can’t install the old Visio on a new computer because of OS requirements. You need an old computer, which we do not have. A data recovery house charging $400 an hour with a $3K minimum (very cheap actually) were not sure they could recover the document. I wrote this document just 8 years ago and while I have it, it is gone.

OOXML does not change the way OLE elements are embedded. Even if this document were saved in the then nonexistent OOXML format, I would have the same problem. Not only that, but no one could write software to read that data, as while OOXML is documented (6000 pages of it), the embedded data is not. Granted it would be nice and tell me that it is a blob of binary data in the Visio format, and optionally may even tell me which version of Visio. Even if you have Visio there is no information on how to get Visio to read that data. Taking the blob and putting it into another file and telling Visio to read it wont work. Now imagine that the embedded document is a chart detailing the allocation of public funds or the organization chart for non-elected employees.

Park Serve Day is this Saturday, May 12th!

Please select a park where you would like to volunteer from the list below and register by clicking the “Register Now” link.

For more information, to register a group of six or more people, or to discuss any special accommodations or needs you may have for the day, please contact the Department of Conservation and Recreation at 617-626-4980 or park.serve@state.ma.us. DCR welcomes all interested participants and has developed a broad list of projects suitable for various abilities.

General directions are provided for your assistance. Please use additional on-line trip planning tools or maps to guide you to the park from your specific starting point.

As I have mentioned before, our local parks are in dire need of attention. Any time you can spare would be greatly appreciated.

Also here is an update from the Environment Massachusetts on the Budget which is now in the Mass. Senate for vote, which includes $9.6 million earmarked for our parks.

Massachusetts has a strong legacy of preserving our special places. Unfortunately, this legacy, like our state forests and parks, is deteriorating. Many of our public treasures are suffering from chronic neglect, mismanagement and understaffing that in some cases have led to visible decay, safety issues and environmental damage. Our state forests and parks system currently has a deferred maintenance backlog of estimated between $1.2 and $1.7 billion.

Our state forests and parks support dozens of rare species, natural communities, old growth forests and champion tree sites. They provide recreational opportunities for millions of visitors who walk, play, camp, bike, hike, and otherwise enjoy these natural resources. And, they contribute significantly to our economic prosperity in the Commonwealth, supporting robust tourism and recreation economies and even, according to recent studies, drawing young people to settle here.

Unfortunately, Governor Patrick missed a crucial step toward restoring our world class forests and parks a few weeks ago when failed to fulfill his campaign promise to provide an additional $10 million for our forests and parks. By ignoring our forests, parks and beaches, we turn our backs on the places that make Massachusetts such a great place to live and work.

The legislature is writing its budget between now and the end of June, so we are working to build as much support as possible to convince our legislators to deliver the additional resources our public treasures need and deserve. We are working closely with the Parks Caucus in the Legislature, other environmental groups, and you to make this happen. As the first step in that process, the House of Representatives passed the final version of the House budget last Friday. We are happy to report that their final budget includes an additional $9.6 million for the Department of Conservation and Recreation. The budget now moves on to the Senate where we will work with Senator Augustus, the Legislative Parks Caucus, and you to ensure the additional resources remain.

To send your senator an email, click on the link below or copy and paste it into your web browser. Then, ask your friends and family to help out by sharing this message with them.

https://www.environmentmassachusetts.org/action/preserving-massachusetts/senate-email?id4=ES

Sincerely,

Frank Gorke
Environment Massachusetts Director
FrankGorke@environmentmassachusetts.org
http://www.environmentmassachusetts.org

Last week the House heeded your call and stood up for Revere Beach, Middlesex Fells, Nickerson State Park, Balance Rock State Park, Walden Pond and other great places across the Commonwealth by including an additional $9.6 million for the Department of Conservation and Recreation in the final version of their budget. Thanks to all of your emails, phone calls and petition signatures, we won this critical first step in the Legislature’s budget process.

This additional funding, championed by Speaker DiMasi, Chairman DeLeo, Chairman Smizik and Representative Rush, means more rangers, cleaner and safer parks, more public access, more educational programs and more recreational opportunities. These lawmakers, as well as all the legislators who supported additional funding for forests and parks, deserve our thanks.

Please email your state representative and thank them for standing up for our treasured public places.

To email your state representative, click on the link below or copy and paste it into your web browser.

https://www.environmentmassachusetts.org/action/preserving-massachusetts/thank-rep?id4=ES

Background

Massachusetts has a strong legacy of preserving our special places. Unfortunately, this legacy, like our state forests and parks, is deteriorating. Many of our public treasures are suffering from chronic neglect, mismanagement and understaffing that in some cases have led to visible decay, safety issues and environmental damage. Our state forests and parks system currently has a deferred maintenance backlog of estimated between $1.2 and $1.7 billion.

Our state forests and parks support dozens of rare species, natural communities, old growth forests and champion tree sites. They provide recreational opportunities for millions of visitors who walk, play, camp, bike, hike, and otherwise enjoy these natural resources. And, they contribute significantly to our economic prosperity in the Commonwealth, supporting robust tourism and recreation economies and even, according to recent studies, drawing young people to settle here.

Unfortunately, Governor Patrick missed a crucial step toward restoring our world class forests and parks a few weeks ago when failed to fulfill his campaign promise to provide an additional $10 million for our forests and parks. By ignoring our forests, parks and beaches, we turn our backs on the places that make Massachusetts such a great place to live and work.

The legislature is writing its budget between now and the end of June, so we are working to build as much support as possible to convince our legislators to deliver the additional resources our public treasures need and deserve. We are working closely with the Parks Caucus in the Legislature, other environmental groups, and you to make this happen. As the first step in that process, the House of Representatives passed the final version of the House budget last Friday. We are happy to report that their final budget includes an additional $9.6 million for the Department of Conservation and Recreation.

Please email your state representative and thank them for standing up for our treasured public places.

Sincerely,

Frank Gorke
Environment Massachusetts Director
FrankG@environmentmassachusetts.org
http://www.environmentmassachusetts.org

P.S. Thanks again for your support. Please feel free to share this e-mail with your family and friends.

Please take the time to thank your representatives for passing this budget and the additional funding for our parks in particular. Don’t know who they are? Here is the list by town and here are their e-mail addresses and phone numbers. Now it is up to the Senate to accept the budget. I will post information on that process later.

And on a personal note….

We go camping many times a year at many Mass. parks. In recent years we have seen a major changes, most not for the better. Wells State Park has had to close their nature tours and children’s programs. The parks are understaffed and the rangers (now under the State Police) are overwhelmed. We try to do our part by leaving the camping areas in better condition than when we arrived. Simple things like clearing the trash, rebuilding the fire pits, leaving fire bundles, and keeping the kids out of the regrowth areas. If you spend time in a public area, park or otherwise, please try to do the same; many small single acts can go along way.