Comments on: The State of ODF in OASIS http://www.robweir.com/blog/2009/01/state-of-odf-in-oasis.html Thinking the unthinkable, pondering the imponderable, effing the ineffable and scruting the inscrutable Wed, 10 Mar 2010 01:51:22 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Rob http://www.robweir.com/blog/2009/01/state-of-odf-in-oasis.html#comment-2154 Rob Fri, 13 Feb 2009 17:35:00 +0000 http://www.robweir.com/blog/2009/01/the-state-of-odf-in-oasis.html#comment-2154 The article should be called "Snoozing at PcPro". The author appears to be ignorant about OASIS and JTC1 process, and about standards in general. It doesn't help that Simon gets the facts wrong as well. It reads like second-hand Alex Brown/Rick Jelliffe agitprop. The article should be called “Snoozing at PcPro”. The author appears to be ignorant about OASIS and JTC1 process, and about standards in general. It doesn’t help that Simon gets the facts wrong as well. It reads like second-hand Alex Brown/Rick Jelliffe agitprop.

]]> By: Mike http://www.robweir.com/blog/2009/01/state-of-odf-in-oasis.html#comment-2150 Mike Fri, 13 Feb 2009 09:19:00 +0000 http://www.robweir.com/blog/2009/01/the-state-of-odf-in-oasis.html#comment-2150 Rob,<br/><br/>Any comment on the article "Snoozing at the Oasis" in PCPro (UK)?:<br/><br/>http://www.pcpro.co.uk/realworld/246145/snoozing-at-the-oasis.html<br/><br/>Simon Jones is an arch-apologist for Microsoft (just in case you hadn't worked that out!)<br/><br/>Cheers,<br/><br/>- Mike Rob,

Any comment on the article “Snoozing at the Oasis” in PCPro (UK)?:

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/realworld/246145/snoozing-at-the-oasis.html

Simon Jones is an arch-apologist for Microsoft (just in case you hadn’t worked that out!)

Cheers,

- Mike

]]> By: Rick Jelliffe http://www.robweir.com/blog/2009/01/state-of-odf-in-oasis.html#comment-2129 Rick Jelliffe Sat, 31 Jan 2009 01:46:00 +0000 http://www.robweir.com/blog/2009/01/the-state-of-odf-in-oasis.html#comment-2129 It is great to see the ODF effort with renewed vigour, focus and wider stakeholder participation. Well done to all involved. It is great to see the ODF effort with renewed vigour, focus and wider stakeholder participation. Well done to all involved.

]]> By: Bart Hanssens http://www.robweir.com/blog/2009/01/state-of-odf-in-oasis.html#comment-2128 Bart Hanssens Fri, 30 Jan 2009 18:56:00 +0000 http://www.robweir.com/blog/2009/01/the-state-of-odf-in-oasis.html#comment-2128 Mm, not sure if "release often" is a good thing when dealing with standards... Of course, releasing drafts "early" on a frequently basis is a Very Good Thing, but generally I like the standards themselves to move at glacial speeds.<br/><br/>That being said, 1.2 will be a real improvement, especially the new meta data framework (back-office applications and semantic crawlers, here we come) and the digital signature support (everyone has an eID card in Belgium, so we're very much into DSIG).<br/><br/>Keep up the good work ! Mm, not sure if “release often” is a good thing when dealing with standards… Of course, releasing drafts “early” on a frequently basis is a Very Good Thing, but generally I like the standards themselves to move at glacial speeds.

That being said, 1.2 will be a real improvement, especially the new meta data framework (back-office applications and semantic crawlers, here we come) and the digital signature support (everyone has an eID card in Belgium, so we’re very much into DSIG).

Keep up the good work !

]]> By: Rob http://www.robweir.com/blog/2009/01/state-of-odf-in-oasis.html#comment-2126 Rob Wed, 28 Jan 2009 15:24:00 +0000 http://www.robweir.com/blog/2009/01/the-state-of-odf-in-oasis.html#comment-2126 I'm generally a fan of "release early and often" as well. The challenge with an International Standard like ODF is that after every word is written and the text is technically and editorially complete, there remains a lengthy approval process, the balloting in OASIS and in ISO/IEC JTC1, which combined can amount to over a year. Add on top of that the equally time consuming process of transposing the approved ODF standard into national standards around the world, which sometimes requires also translation of the text into the native language, etc.<br/><br/>So even if we ensure backwards compatibility, we still are limited in the how frequently we can release new versions. one compromise is to publish more frequent updates at levels below a full standard, so more frequent Committee Drafts and Committee Specifications. That allows us to get more timely feedback from implementers and the public as well as gives a target for implementers to aim for. I’m generally a fan of “release early and often” as well. The challenge with an International Standard like ODF is that after every word is written and the text is technically and editorially complete, there remains a lengthy approval process, the balloting in OASIS and in ISO/IEC JTC1, which combined can amount to over a year. Add on top of that the equally time consuming process of transposing the approved ODF standard into national standards around the world, which sometimes requires also translation of the text into the native language, etc.

So even if we ensure backwards compatibility, we still are limited in the how frequently we can release new versions. one compromise is to publish more frequent updates at levels below a full standard, so more frequent Committee Drafts and Committee Specifications. That allows us to get more timely feedback from implementers and the public as well as gives a target for implementers to aim for.

]]> By: Anonymous http://www.robweir.com/blog/2009/01/state-of-odf-in-oasis.html#comment-2125 Anonymous Wed, 28 Jan 2009 09:19:00 +0000 http://www.robweir.com/blog/2009/01/the-state-of-odf-in-oasis.html#comment-2125 Thank-you for the update, Rob. I'm a firm believer in Open Standards, so it's good to know definite progress is being made.<br/><br/>There is an open source mantra along the lines of 'release early and release often', and while I can see having a new, improved, standard every month could be irritating (and a lot of work), clear indications of prgress are always good.<br/><br/>More frequent releases would be aided if both forwards and backwards compatibility were built in: that is to say, knowing that an application built to process version 1.0 standard items will not break version n.m standard items; and knowing than an application built to process version 3.5 standard items will be able to process and produce version 1.0 standard items.<br/><br/>Best wishes for reaching the milestone of the publication of the draft soon. Thank-you for the update, Rob. I’m a firm believer in Open Standards, so it’s good to know definite progress is being made.

There is an open source mantra along the lines of ‘release early and release often’, and while I can see having a new, improved, standard every month could be irritating (and a lot of work), clear indications of prgress are always good.

More frequent releases would be aided if both forwards and backwards compatibility were built in: that is to say, knowing that an application built to process version 1.0 standard items will not break version n.m standard items; and knowing than an application built to process version 3.5 standard items will be able to process and produce version 1.0 standard items.

Best wishes for reaching the milestone of the publication of the draft soon.

]]> By: Rob http://www.robweir.com/blog/2009/01/state-of-odf-in-oasis.html#comment-2123 Rob Tue, 27 Jan 2009 20:09:00 +0000 http://www.robweir.com/blog/2009/01/the-state-of-odf-in-oasis.html#comment-2123 We're getting close for ODF 1.2 For a while we were suffering from a bit of "feature creep". A quick calculation in November showed that if we processed all of the remaining TC member proposals for ODF 1.2 (numbering around 50), ODF 1.2 would not finish for another year! <br/><br/>So in December the TC agreed to prioritize the remaining proposals and process only a limited number of them. We completing discussion and approval of these remaining proposals just two weeks ago. They are being integrated in the text of the draft now. That is a big step forward and moves ODF 1.2 from a feature development phase to an editing and review phase. <br/><br/>The key milestone will be publication of the draft and a call for public comments. This should happen within a month or two. That review process and the subsequent balloting process will take an additional 5-6 months. We’re getting close for ODF 1.2 For a while we were suffering from a bit of “feature creep”. A quick calculation in November showed that if we processed all of the remaining TC member proposals for ODF 1.2 (numbering around 50), ODF 1.2 would not finish for another year!

So in December the TC agreed to prioritize the remaining proposals and process only a limited number of them. We completing discussion and approval of these remaining proposals just two weeks ago. They are being integrated in the text of the draft now. That is a big step forward and moves ODF 1.2 from a feature development phase to an editing and review phase.

The key milestone will be publication of the draft and a call for public comments. This should happen within a month or two. That review process and the subsequent balloting process will take an additional 5-6 months.

]]> By: Anonymous http://www.robweir.com/blog/2009/01/state-of-odf-in-oasis.html#comment-2122 Anonymous Tue, 27 Jan 2009 19:05:00 +0000 http://www.robweir.com/blog/2009/01/the-state-of-odf-in-oasis.html#comment-2122 Somebody's got to ask...<br/><br/>When is ODF 1.2 going to see the light of day? I think it's about 6 months behind a rough and ready schedule that you outlined a while back. While I appreciate it'll be ready when it's ready, would you be so kind as to update the hoped for schedule again, please?<br/><br/>My personal main reason for wanting it is the standardisation of spreadsheet formula representation, and more importantly the standardisation of the mathematical formualae behind them, but there's lots of other incremental additions and improvements that I'd really like to see bedded in before moving wholesale from the other formats that are littering my archives. I only really want to go through the pain of conversion once. Somebody’s got to ask…

When is ODF 1.2 going to see the light of day? I think it’s about 6 months behind a rough and ready schedule that you outlined a while back. While I appreciate it’ll be ready when it’s ready, would you be so kind as to update the hoped for schedule again, please?

My personal main reason for wanting it is the standardisation of spreadsheet formula representation, and more importantly the standardisation of the mathematical formualae behind them, but there’s lots of other incremental additions and improvements that I’d really like to see bedded in before moving wholesale from the other formats that are littering my archives. I only really want to go through the pain of conversion once.

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