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Computerworld - Massachusetts last week officially confirmed that its executive agencies for now will continue using Microsoft Office instead of switching to alternative desktop applications. But by Jan. 1, in keeping with a controversial policy announced last year, the state plans to start adding plug-in software that will let its Office users create and save files in the industry-standard OpenDocument format.

The announcement was a victory for advocates of people with disabilities, who had contended that other desktop applications now available are less compatible than Office is with screen readers and other accessibility tools used by blind, deaf and mobility-impaired end users.

For Microsoft Corp., the state's decision represents something of a mixed bag. The software vendor had viewed Massachusetts as a key battleground in its effort to maintain Office's dominance of the desktop applications market. However, although state agencies will continue to use Office, Massachusetts didn't back away from its January 2007 deadline for switching from Microsoft's file formats to OpenDocument.

In addition, the state has yet to agree to add Microsoft's Open XML technology to its list of approved open file formats, which includes OpenDocument and the Portable Document Format. Microsoft developed Open XML for its Office 2007 release, due late this year.

Massachusetts CIO Louis Gutierrez declined to comment about last week's announcement. But in an e-mail message sent two weeks ago to the state's IT advisory board, Gutierrez wrote that his office had "tried to thread a needle" by seeking an approach that would support a move toward standard document formats and encourage vendor competition yet maintain full desktop accessibility and be both economical and minimally disruptive to agencies.

Gutierrez added in the email, which was released by the state last week, that the plug-in strategy will let agencies continue to leverage the accessibility features of Office while Microsoft's desktop application rivals and third-party developers "resolve a doable list of accessibility fixes and enhancements."

Eventually, state agencies will be able to choose between sticking with Office or moving to alternative software, Gutierrez wrote. In the meantime, he noted, existing Office installations will be able to work with OpenDocument, which is formally called the Open Document Format for Office Applications and also referred to as ODF.

Gutierrez met with accessibility advocates on Aug. 18 to detail the state's plan. In an official letter that he sent to them last Wednesday, the CIO wrote that the plan calls for the Massachusetts Office on Disability and other early-adopter agencies to begin using Office plug-ins that support ODF by Jan. 1. The state expects to migrate its other executive agencies to ODF by next June in a phased rollout.