ODF 1.1: Recommended further steps

[Michael Brauer - Sun Germany - ham02 - Hamburg <Michael.Brauer@Sun.COM>]

Dear TC members,

The public review of OpenDocument 1.1 ends on September, the 25th. Until now, 
no comments that require a substantive change were received.

Summary:

There are a couple of option that we have now how to proceed. I will explain 
them in more detail below. Under the assumption that we do not receive 
comments that require substantive changes, my recommendation to the TC how to 
proceed is:

- to prepare and agree on a revised specification that contains the 
non-substantial comment resolutions we agreed on in the next couple of weeks 
(until October, the 6th or the 12th),
- to conduct a Committee Specification ballot for the revised specification 
in the week October, the 16th or the 23rd (based on the progress we make with 
the revised specification),
- to decide whether we want to submit ODF 1.1 to the membership of OASIS for 
consideration as an OASIS Standard in the first half of November, and
- if we decide to submit ODF 1.1 to the membership of OASIS for consideration 
as an OASIS Standard, to aim for a voting in January.

Details:

Provided that no comments that require a substantive change are received 
until the end of the public review, the TC has the following options:

a) it may approve OpenDocument 1.1 as a Committee Specification
b) it may approve OpenDocument 1.1 as a Committee Specification, and 
simultaneously may vote for submitting it to the membership of OASIS for 
consideration as an OASIS Standard.

In case the TC approves OpenDocument 1.1 as a Committee Specification, it may 
at a later time submit it to the membership of OASIS for consideration as an 
OASIS Standard. So, the two options actually should read.

a) it (the TC) may approve OpenDocument 1.1 as a Committee Specification; 
optionally and at a later time, it may further vote for submitting it to the 
membership of OASIS for consideration as an OASIS Standard.
b) it may approve OpenDocument 1.1 as a Committee Specification, and 
simultaneously may vote for submitting it to the membership of OASIS for 
consideration as an OASIS Standard.

To submit ODF 1.1 to the membership of OASIS for consideration as an OASIS 
Standard, it is required that three OASIS member organizations certify that 
they are successfully using the specification.

Taking the TC's meeting schedule into account, a reasonable date for the 
Committee Specification voting for both options is mid of October. A 
reasonable date for the OASIS Standard ballot for both options is January. 
For option b) we may also have a chance to conduct the OASIS standard ballot 
already in November, but only if the  TC agrees on voting for OpenDocument 
1.1 as committee specification in its con call at October, the 2nd, and if we 
get the required certification until October, the 15th.

The approval level that is essential for implementors actually is the 
Committee Specification. There is nearly no difference in the date
where ODF 1.1 reaches this level, regardless whether we take option a), or 
option b) with a November date. I therefore recommend option a), because it 
provides a larger flexibility to the TC without having an impact on the ODF 
1.1 schedule. The resulting schedule is above.

Best regards

Michael