[ebxml-iic] ebxml conformance (was) OAG meeting at NIST

[James Bryce Clark <jamie.clark@mmiec.com>]

Jacques, I am sorry I haven't been able to join the NIST meetings. 
I did want to pass along a concern before those meetings concluded.

As you may know, OASIS and UNCEFACTcreated a joint coordinating committee
for ebXML, on which Patrick Gannon and I (among others)
serve.   While coordination has been slower than I would have
liked, we are making progress, and all are genuinely trying to cooperate
productively on maintaining and facilitating the ebXML activity and
brand.

The JCC has been talking, in some detail, about conformance and
interoperability activities.  A majority of members have a strong
shared concern about keeping 'official' activity in this area (through
the official TCs and project teams) open and vendor-neutral.  There
has been a flurry of communication back and forth as we try to precisely
express that -- coalitions are often slow, and everyone including me has
their own axe to grind.   I expect you will get more reports
and views from JCC participants, and perhaps eventually a formal
statement from Simon Nicholson who is serving as JCC chair at the
moment.  

As you are making immediate plans, though, I want to express as a
personal view that IIC's definition of tests, and collaborative work on
testbeds, should to the greatest extent possible not rely on a single
vendor or competing standard.  "Rely" here might mean
either contribution of workproduct or funds.   

I do not have enough data to evaluate the various current announcements
regarding OAG and NIST, and UCC and the Drummond Group -- all of which I
am sure are well motivated -- but in general I urge IIC to carefully
avoid exclusive alignments or sponsorships in its work wherever
possible.  Our broader community wants and expects us, ebXML, to be
the "good guys".  We should live up to that as best we
can, by creating multiple alignments in preference to single ones.

Best regards and warm wishes for your work.   Jamie Clark

~ James Bryce Clark
~ VP and General Counsel, McLure-Moynihan Inc. 
~ Chair, ABA Business Law Subcommittee on Electronic Commerce 
~ 1 818 597 9475   jamie.clark@mmiec.com   
jbc@lawyer.com 
~ This message is neither legal advice nor a binding signature.  Ask
me why.