The saga of Massachusetts and the OpenDocument Format (ODf) – in which the state declared that any software, including Microsoft`s, unable to store data for posterity in open formats such as ODf and PDF, would be scratched from its approved software list – took another turn last month.

The state requested information on any plug-in that would enable Microsoft Office to handle ODf files. The following day, the OpenDocument Foundation (ODF, with a capital F) notified Massachusetts it had such a plug-in and delivered it for trials.

The uninitiated might be fooled into thinking such a project could be completed in a day. The cynic, however, might suspect a marketing stunt: development completed well in advance and the ODF sitting on the plug-in waiting for a “request” after planting a seed.