The article continues to say that the Commonwealth using OpenDocument and PDF standards. With the new OpenOffice, I don't think that any of the state employees will be at a loss as far as functionality goes. If I were to make a statistic up, I would say that only two out ten people really know how to use their word processors and spreadsheets - I speak entirely out of personal observation. If that statistic is true, then most people will probably *not* notice any difference between OpenOffice and Microsoft Office except the difference in splashscreen names.
I'd be very interested to see what role, if any, java is going to play in the mix, especially in the enterprise arena. I would also be interested to see if this foray into open-source will be a domino effect with state, city, county, or even, dare I say, national government.
This open-source fever may also leak into the realms of the many contractors that rely on government business, thus spreading into private industry... Of course, this might make Microsoft think about pre-packaging Office, or at least a small subset of it, with all computers to ensure their Office dominance. How long will that take?