Re: [office] List Proposal Vote Deadline on Wednesday

["Bruce D'Arcus" <bdarcus@gmail.com>]

On May 2, 2007, at 2:03 PM, Gary Edwards wrote:

> The "problematic" difference between the two proposals will only be  
> evident when converting from the Sun/KOffice new list model back to  
> existing file formats.  Which is to say that the Sun/KOffice list  
> model is a one way conversion.  The Novell proposal is designed to  
> accommodate a two way conversion.

For the record, my own position on the outside of this conversation  
(I did not vote) is that:

1) it is not in our charter to support round-trip conversion with MS  
Office files. This is not some formality, because I actually really  
like the TC charter; it seems designed to achieve the best technical  
outcome.

2) there was what I would call a serious breakdown in communication  
in this process such that the value or wisdom of Florian's proposal  
was not at all clear. E.g. if 1 were in our charter, I still am  
unconvinced Florian's solution was the right one to achieve that  
goal. That's not to say that it was a bad proposal or a good one;  
just that it became very, very difficult to discern signal from noise  
in this conversation.

So I suggest whatever process led to this confusion this time around  
not be repeated in the future.

3) at a certain point, we need a formal -- and public -- way to  
resolve interoperability issues between OOXML and ODF. We cannot have  
people slipping in unstated requirements of this sort every time we  
entertain some enhancement. I don't know what kind of political or  
organizational work needs to be done to make this happen, but I  
suggest somebody step up and do it.

Bruce