Re: [odf-adoption] 'Open by Design (redux)' for Novatica and UpgradePublication

[donald_harbison@us.ibm.com]

Hi Erwin,

To answer your first question, it was
my understanding that we could extend from our white paper assets into
a new paper. The request was for a monograph on ODF for the Spanish I/T
readership. The paper will therefore be edited and translated by Novatica
for its audience. In the original note, the editor said: 

"We are
planning to publish a monograph about the "Open
Document Format (ODF)", one of the OASIS standards, including some
of the
last new developments around it. ....The
subject of your paper could range from the most generic aspects of
standards and their relevance in the computing industry, including how
OASIS
works and the proceedings it follows to develop them, to more specific
issues about standard document formats and ODF. I’m sure that all these
subjects would be of great interest for our readers."

I also explained to the editor that
we were planning on covering the following topics:
" We are editing a collaborative
essay with contributions from several of our OASIS ODF Adoption Technical
Committee. The paper describes the background and history that led to the
development of the OpenDocument Format, now available as ISO/IEC 26300:2006.
The value of an open file format, its benefits in the short term and the
long term, interoperability, sovereignty, and innovation comprise the topics
we plan to cover."


Secondly, thanks for the suggested edit.
I made an attempt to incorporate your points, and also comments from Rob
and Mary into this version:



Rob's comment: 

'I think the point we want to make is
that in no case do we have something that approaches the open standards
based approach we have with HTML/CSS/DOM/JavaScript.  Programs that
manipulate office documents, whether OOXML or ODF, are using ad-hoc and
proprietary API's and interfaces.  We'd like to move that along into
a standards-based approach to enhance interoperability.  The point
is not merely to allow OpenOffice applications to run on multiple OS's,
  That is nice of course, but developing with ODF needs more.  The
"open standards" message will be enhanced, and our positioning
wrt Microsoft as well, if we extend this openness into the end-user programmability
realm.'

This is what the intent was in this
section. I think it's also a goal of Rob's ODDK proposal, Michael Brauer's
similar proposal on GulfOSS (http://blogs.sun.com/GullFOSS/entry/thoughts_on_an_opendocument_toolkit).

In any event, let's please agree on
how to finalize the edit here tomorrow. The paper is due to be submitted
on Wed. I hope this answers your question and concerns.

Best regards,


Don Harbison
Program Director, IBM ODF Initiative
Business & Technical Strategy
IBM Software Group
tel:1-978-399-7018
Mobile: +1-978-761-0116
email: donald_harbison@us.ibm.com

Erwin Tenhumberg <Erwin.Tenhumberg@Sun.COM>
Sent by: Erwin.Tenhumberg@Sun.COM

12/18/2006 06:05 AM

To	donald_harbison@us.ibm.com, carol.geyer@oasis-open.org
cc	odf-adoption@lists.oasis-open.org
Subject	Re: [odf-adoption] 'Open by Design (redux)' for Novatica and Upgrade Publication

I'm less experienced with the type of articles that
Novatica/Upgrade 
requested, but is the white paper the right style? In addition, can a TC
white paper also be published as an article?


In addition, since the document has an OASIS logo and thus represents 
the TC, I do not fully agree to the following statement:

"Today, programming with document data is too complex and platform
dependent. Microsoft® Office software requires developers to use 
Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications, a Microsoft Windows® 
software-only and Microsoft Office software only programming language 
and interface. Alternatively, developers working with StarOffice or 
OpenOffice must rely on the Universal Network Objects (UNO) application
programming interface. None of these technologies interoperates well 
with independently developed third-party technologies."

This lets UNO appear as limited as the Microsoft technology, which I 
personally believe is not the case. OpenOffice.org including the UNO 
component model is open source and available on multiple platforms. In
addition, UNO has multiple language bindings. Therefore, I don't fully
agree with the "None of these technologies interoperates well with
independently developed third-party technologies." conclusion, 
considering that quite a few people are integrating OpenOffice.org and
UNO for ODF viewing, editing and conversion purposes.


Except that, I'm o.k. with the content.


Thanks,
Erwin





donald_harbison@us.ibm.com wrote:
> 
> Dear ODF Adoption TC,
> 
> I took the liberty of extending Erwin's excellent paper with content
> from the 'Opportunities for Innovations' paper, additional content
from 
> the ODF specification itself, and some content from Rob. I hope I
didn't 
> create a 'Frankenstein', so I'll leave it to you to judge. The goal
was 
> to create more of monograph that covers the basics (Erwin did that
very 
> nicely), adds some additional technical information and updates for
the 
> Sub Committee work, and ends with some of the forward looking 
> information as presented in the 'innovations' paper. I couldn't resist
> adding Rob's 'Twenty Things You Can Do with ODF'...since they are
so 
> straightforward and easily understood.
> 
> 
> 
> We have until Wed., 12/20 to submit this, an extension from today.
> 
> Erwin, since you will be hosting on Tues., 12/19, can you please add
> this item for review, discussion and approval for publication?
> 
> thanks!
> 
> Don Harbison
> Program Director, IBM ODF Initiative
> Business & Technical Strategy
> IBM Software Group
> tel:1-978-399-7018
> Mobile: +1-978-761-0116
> email: donald_harbison@us.ibm.com
>

ODF for Novatica+Upgrade 12-18-06.odt