Re: [office] Towards a more modular ODF

["Andreas J. Guelzow" <andreas.guelzow@concordia.ab.ca>]

On Sat, 2011-07-23 at 11:39 -0600, robert_weir@us.ibm.com wrote:

> One idea that I was brought up at the Plugfest was the idea of making ODF 
> more modular,  meaning defining formal modules at the schema and 
> specification level, and to standardize these modules independently, at 
> whatever pace they naturally evolve.  We're partially down that road 
> already with the three "parts" of ODF 1.2.  But since these are part of 
> the same OASIS standard, we cannot evolve them at different paces.  The 
> rigidity of this monolithic approach impacts our work in OASIS and in ISO.
> 
(...)
> 
> I'd be interested in the TC's thoughts on this.  Is this worth aiming for? 
>  Is it doable?  Or is it "boiling the ocean"? 

I believe that the primary effect of restructuring the ODF standard once
again would primarily result in a delay of ODF 1.3, 1.4 etc without any
real gain. I see no reason why we can't work inside more or less defined
modules but retaining a fixed release schedule and a monolithic
standard.

As modules (eg. change tracking,...) reach a release ready state they
can be inserted/incorporated into the monolithic standard and released
as part of the next ODF version according to schedule. If a module isn't
ready it would just not be incorporated for a release. 

Andreas


-- 
Andreas J. Guelzow, PhD, FTICA
Concordia University College of Alberta

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