Christian group weighs in on ODF, Mass, and Microsoft

The libre software proponents, consisting mostly of Christian ministers and laymen, consider Microsoft's reaction to Massachusetts' decision appalling. "Rather than meet their customer's requirements, Microsoft is attempting to hold hostage the visually-impaired by not supporting OpenDocument when they could do so with relative ease," said Parris. It is the visually-impaired people who stand to lose the most in Microsoft's fight against OpenDocument in Massachusetts. Visually-impaired people deserve to enjoy the same document sharing capabilities as other people. Lee Dambrosky, a visually-impaired mission worker who has joined with the clergy in their challenge to Microsoft, agrees they should support the OpenDocument format.

The Visually-impaired are not the only ones who will be negatively impacted by the lack of OpenDocument support in Microsoft Office. Low-income people seeking to lift themselves out of their poverty could face extensive difficulty trying to share documents with businesses requiring Microsoft's native document format for compatibility purposes. Low-income users could hardly afford Microsoft Office, the most expensive suite in common use today. OpenDocument gives low-income users, who are more likely to use OpenOffice.org than the costly Microsoft Office, an opportunity to run a powerful office suite to manage their entrepreneurial ventures, or even to work as free-lance writers. Additionally, the failure of government agencies to Adopt OpenDocument as a standard format could be viewed as depriving the less fortunate of their right to equal access to government information. The group of Christians believes it is imperative they speak up for the disadvantaged because many of them don't even realize there is a standard document format that will benefit them.