Please participate in OpenFormula! First issue: Where should themailing list be?

["David A. Wheeler" <dwheeler@dwheeler.com>]

OpenDocument is a good specification, but I believe its spreadsheet
formula specification needs more detail. I have crafted a very
early draft of those details, and I hope to create an effort to further
improve them into something useful.  I've named this work "OpenFormula".
More information about OpenFormula is at:
  http://sourceforge.net/projects/openformula
  http://www.dwheeler.com/openformula/
  http://software.newsforge.com/software/05/09/09/192250.shtml?tid=93

Please participate if you are interested in improving the
specification of spreadsheet formulas in OpenDocument, by signing
up for its initial mailing list!

The first issue is "where should the mailing list be?"
For a start, I have set up a mailing list on SourceForge, and I propose
using it at least at first to discuss if it should stay there.

So if you are interested in helping to develop OpenFormula, go to:
   http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/openformula-discuss
and sign up.  You can post messages by sending a message
to openformula-discuss (at) lists (dot) sourceforge.net
to send a message to the group; currently non-members can send email
to the list but that will halt once things have gotten going.

I am _not_ married to keeping the mailing list on SourceForge;
other reasonable locations include opendocumentfellowship.org.
I have chosen to start on SourceForge because:
(1) They provide the necessary facilities (mailing list with archives,
     a CM system (CVS), file hosting, backups, and so on), right now.
(2) They have a long track record of providing this kind of support.
(3) They are "neutral ground".  Microsoft sponsors some SourceForge
     projects, and many GPL'ed projects are hosted there as well.
     Since I anticipate that both proprietary and open source software /
     free-libre (OSS/FS) software will implement OpenFormula,
     it's appropriate to have a "neutral territory".
     OpenFormula MUST be implementable by any proprietary vendor
     (Microsoft, Corel, whoever) and any OSS/FS supplier (OpenOffice.org,
     KOffice, Gnumeric, etc.) using their ordinary business models and
     licensing agreements.
Earlier on, I set up a SourceForge "forum", but some have said they'd
prefer a more traditional mailing list, and I'm happy to oblige.
I could easily be convinced to do this on opendocumentfellowship.org,
and I'm grateful for their offer to support this,
but I thought SourceForge might have a few trivial advantages.
(If there are larger advantages, let me know!)

So please sign up on the SourceForge list if you're interested in
helping turn OpenFormula into a useful specification.  If you
think there would be a better place to discuss it, please sign
up anyway, and then post where you think the discussion should be
(and why!). The list can be moved if it there's a better home for it...
but I will need a list of members to move.  So, even if SourceForge
isn't the final home, signing up will be very helpful.

Once there's a mailing list, we can decide on a few basic ground rules
and then dig in to create a better specification in this area.
I propose starting with my early draft, but I know it needs much more
detail, vetting by a wider community, and (most importantly!)
agreement and implementation by suppliers.
I cannot do this by myself, but with participation of a wider community,
I believe this is a very doable task!

Please discuss "where to put a forum" at:
  openformula-discuss (at) lists (dot) sourceforge.net
and not (just) at other places; no one wants to follow
ten different mailing lists!
Please DO NOT include "odf-announce" in particular!
Once the mailng list location seems settled (for a while),
we'll move on to defining some ground rules and completing a
first draft specification.

--- David A. Wheeler