By Nick Heath, 26 November 2008 15:17
NEWS
Microsoft is working with Westminster tech chiefs after politicians and peers complained of being unable to open the latest Word documents.
The Mircrosoft Office 2003 software used by the UK's 646 MPs and 742 peers is incompatible with Microsoft Word 2007 document formats, leaving politicians and civil servants unable to read some correspondence.
The problem was raised in the House of Lords information committee annual report, published yesterday, and committee member Lord Methuen said: "A program can be downloaded to read the documents but obviously not everybody knows how to do this.
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"Pict [the Parliamentary Information and Communication Technology Service] is working with Microsoft to resolve this problem."
A spokesman for Pict said: "The work to upgrade to Microsoft Office 2007 for parliamentary network users is still a matter under investigation.
"It is expected that all issues of compatibility will be identified and resolved during that investigation."
MPs' email inboxes are also bursting at the seams, according to the report, leading to an agreement to increase the size of their email allowances.
Widespread wireless internet connectivity also beckons for Westminster, with the Lords' committee asking Pict to carry out a feasibility study into providing wireless access across the Parliamentary estate, in addition to existing coverage in the Royal Gallery, Library Reading Rooms and The Chamber.
The report also reveals MPs are lobbying to be able to place clips of themselves in the House of Commons on YouTube and that members and peers want to embed official Parliamentary video on their personal websites. Both matters will need further consideration before approval is given, according to the report.
Full virtual tours of Parliament will also be available on the www.parliament.uk website by the end of 2009, according to the report - building on the House of Lords Chamber and Library tours already on the site.
Over the past year the Lords' committee also approved plans for an e-library within the proposed Members' Library in the refurbished 1 Millbank offices. The e-library will include about 20 workstations and wall-mounted plasma screens to give MPs and staff access to training, information and email.
The report also reveals that a Parliamentary Education Centre, due to open in 2012, will include videoconferencing facilities and is expected to host about 100,000 visitors per year.
Comments
There are 15 comments. Join the discussion
1. Karen Challinor
I think a far more basic problem is that Westminster can't understand English
especially when it is used by the electorate
2. Simon Allen
Well said Karen!!
So .. someone decides to upgrade all the PCs to Office 2007, without planning how to handle the transition?
Plan 1) Warn that there will be hassle during transition.
Plan 2) Upgrade 90% of machines to have the 2007 reader for 2003 and then start to install the upgrade. Costs more but everything runs smoothly.
Gosh - that was difficult. I'll bet they normally pay £2,000 a day for that kind of consultancy!!
3. David Fletcher
It's about time for these people to learn to use their computers properly, and stop throwing my money away in the direction of Redmond.
For instance, I spent about 10 minutes teaching my son the basics of using LaTeX to do a school homework assignment a couple of nights ago. He was thoroughly confused at first, then upon seeing the pdf it produces, he remarked "Hey that's COOL". I think he's become a convert.
Anybody reading this, please just type latex into google, and check out the first result. Like all good things, it takes a little effort to learn but the rewards are well worth it.
4. Daz Hughes
I'm surprised that it's taken nearly two years since the release of Microsoft Office 2007 for Westminster to realise that at some time, they will need to roll out the Office compatibility pack.
If Westminster decide to roll out Office 2007 instead of just the compatibility pack, I can the secretaries and not just the back-benches revolting !
5. Lionel A Smith
The solution is easy and a 'no brainer': use OpenOffice.
This should make Westminster warry of anything that has Microsoft underneath. Word doc incompatability between versions of Word has a long history.
6. Roy Corneloues
1. Press Office Button
2. Click "Save As" (That's the 4th menu option)
3. Click "Word 97-2003 Document"
Not exactly rocket science...
7. Matt H
I don't know why they're worried about being able to open word documents, they'll only lose them or leave them in the back of a taxi! Give them all notepads and pencils, they should be able to manage that!
8. Derek Overton
What a pity we seem to have IT illiterate MPs and maybe insuficient support. Maybe that's why nobody mentioned that the 'bulging inboxes' could be much smaller if the attachments were in Word 2007 and not Word 2003.
I assume that someone in the whole gaggle of people understands the compressed format of the Word 2007 documents!
Perhaps they should team up with a local school where most of the children would know how to download the pacth to allow Word 2003 to open Word 2007 documents.
9. Nick Cole
Simple solution, make sure that the default document settings are backward compatible!
10. Chris Goodman
The problem is not MS Office but the poor quality of our MPs.
11. Daz Hughes
Some of the other comments have missed the point - we aren't talking about outgoing documents here (which will be in 97-2003 format anyway if that's all they have at Westminster).
The problem is the incoming stuff - all those letters from angry constituents - sent from the inbox of despair to the MP's - who are then presented with an attachment they cannot open (if they can manage that under normal circumstances of course).
12. Andrew Albert
there is a plugin that lets office 2003 open 2008 docs. why upgrade? how much is this going to cost the taxpayer?
13. drew stephenson
And these are the people who are driving a whole host of regulation relating to the internet and storing of technology related information? Fantastic. How reassuring. not. If ever we required proof that they don't know what they're doing...
14. David Millar
but why the hell do people continue to vote them into power?
With their half witted decisions at home and on the international stage, they're slowly but surely costing us our freedoms and way of life.
15. Richard Sarson
This is about the silliest set of comments I have read on silicon.com. You wouldn't expect a business executive to know the difference between an office 2003 doc and a 2007 docx. He has got an IT dept to sort this out for him. Why expect an MP to bother? He has better things to do with his/her time. The fault lies with PICT, the Parliamentary "ITcrowd", which should have sorted this out for them months ago. Or the PA who runs his/her office.
The "yahboo, all MPs are Luddites" is an infantile reaction. A more adult view is "what a pity that more MPs do not devote their talents to develop coherent IT policies."
Incidentally, I live on the outskirts of the Westminster village, and have yet to have had a problem with Office downloads from anywhere. But then I am a Mac, albeit still using Office 2004, not a PC.