OIC TC 2009-06-17 Discussion Notes

["Dennis E. Hamilton" <dennis.hamilton@acm.org>]

OIC TC 2009-06-17 DISCUSSION NOTES

MEETING OF THE WHOLE, 17 June 2009
Time:  13:30 - 14:20 UT

The OIC TC Meeting scheduled for 2009-06-17 failed to achieve a quorum.  The record of that meeting for attendance-tracking purposes has been posted at
<http://lists.oasis-open.org/archives/oic/200906/msg00046.html>.

These notes are of the discussion that was held.  No committee actions were taken.  The topics of the original agenda were followed as a structure for the discussion,
<http://lists.oasis-open.org/archives/oic/200906/msg00042.html>.

1. LOGISTICS
1.4 TAG Liaison E-Ballot.  Bart Hanssens reported that the ballot approving Dennis Hamilton as the OIC TC Liaison to the TAG TC had concluded.  No action is required.  The appointment is approved and Bart will notify OASIS about it.
   In brief discussion about the TAG TC, Stephen Peront observed that he is proposing use of XPROC and Schematron for our test assertions and will put a proposal on the list.  There was a question about Schematron possibly having license restrictions.  Stephen will look into that and account for it in any proposal that he produces.

1.5 OIC JIRA (not on agenda).  There was a question about whether the OIC could have a JIRA to use for interoperability issues.  Dennis observed that there is already an OIC JIRA, 
<http://tools.oasis-open.org/issues/browse/OIC>.  
   Bart sees the JIRA Issue Tracker as being useful tracking issues and comments on our materials: the State of Interoperability report, etc.  It can also be used to track handling of public comments that arrive on the oic-comment list.
   It seemed like a good idea to start using the OIC JIRA.

2. STATUS OF ACTION ITEMS
We did not have attendees available to provide status on action items.  These are the ones that were discussed:

#0015 Template Scenario.  Dennis said he can start on this one now, since #0016 is completed.  Dennis also observed that there was a template scenario at the ODF Plugfest held at The Hague.

#0016 Experimental Start-up of Specification Analysis Wiki.  Dennis reported that the initial experiment was concluded.  Because he listed so many caveats around what has to be dealt with, it was thought he was recommending against doing this.  He affirmed that he thinks we should go ahead (and the recommendation is now emphasized on the discussion page about this: 
<http://wiki.oasis-open.org/oic/SpecAnalysis/Discussion>).  
   Dennis proposes to close this item at the next full meeting.

#0026 Test Scenarios: Stephen is delayed but not stopped.  It was observed that at The Hague there was great interest in scenarios and people want them to use.

#0028 Virtual Plugfests.  The folks at The Hague conference were thrilled by the event and want to continue, using the OpenDocumentSociety Wiki,
<http://plugtest.opendocsociety.org/doku.php>.
The prospect of partnering with them was raised.  
   Bart was thinking that OASIS might do something more closed for testing products that are not released yet.  Dennis remarked that a developer with an unreleased product could certainly use all of our test guidance and create a test suite for their private analysis, and this would avoid NDA problems.
   Don Harbison said it might be worth thinking about what could be done for ODF 1.2 plugfests in 2010 as products up-level to 1.2.  There was more discussion about how to intercept 1.2 and also prepare for OpenFormula.

#0029 on an ODF/interop session on November's OOoCon2007 in Orvieto, Italy.  It looks like there will be a time over the next 4-6 weeks to prepare any proposals to the Call for Papers that is about to come out.  Don Harbison suggested that all of the ODF TC chairs (Adoption, ODF, and OIC) should make a combined proposal and lead a plugfest on the side of the event, with connectivity, etc.  Heads-down hacking could happen in the plugfest, all the talks could be done in the more-open conference setting.

3. STATE OF INTEROPERABILITY

3.1 OIC-COMMENTS RECEIVED

It was noted that there are comments on the oic-comment list and there might be issues to add to OIC JIRA.  It was suggested that we should look at what is there.

4. FEEDBACK FROM THE HAGUE INTEROP EVENT
Bart reported on his experience being there.
This event was described as very successful.  
There is a Wiki that anyone can sign up for at http://plugtest.opendocsociety.org
Rendering (fidelity) and interoperability did come up.
The OpenShots.org service will show rendering in different applications and return screen shots of how the rendering works across apps.  Bart sees OpenShots.org having a great future.
  The application scenarios were tried out with creation of a document, sending it to someone else, editing it in a different application, seeing how rendering, recalculation, and so on worked.
  Many little bugs and items showed up.
  Creating scenarios is problematic, some being complex, some being very simple. OIC could do interesting work in creating well-written and complete scenarios.
  Bart has some admin rights on the wiki and can help anyone who is having difficulty using it.
  Bart says the expectation is that implementers will be open about finding buts and will let people know about defects.  Fixes can be announced using the Plugfest Wiki too.
  Bart also talked about finding ways to bring feedback to the specification (to/from OIC?), improvise it, etc.  Submissions to the ODF TC could be made while also recommending a workaround/interpretation to apply in the interim.  (Again, OIC?)
  Carol Geyer was told about the twittering from and around the event and there might be something to be provided to her for the OASIS Newsletter.
  Continuing the plugfest effort is very important, and a virtual effort would be valuable, along with occasional Face-to-Face events.
  Bart says there is no discussion about another Face-to-Face before November.  Bart will check to see if something could happen in Belgium before then.

6. FUTURE MEETINGS

The next call is July 1, 2009, as already scheduled.

There was discussion about maintaining the meeting schedule over summer, are there holidays or other periods of heavy vacation times that we might need to adjust for?  The topic was raised but not discussed.

 - Dennis

Dennis E. Hamilton
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