Re: [opendocument-users] OpenDocument as an archival format

[robert_weir@us.ibm.com]

ODF is a format for daily work as well
as for archiving.   I don't think one use precludes the other.  The
essence is that you have a standard-based, cross-platform, application
and vendor neutral file format which works with the tools and API's you
already know, like DOM, SAX, SVG, XForms, XSLT, etc.    What
this will look like 100's of years from now is hard to speculate.  At
the core, readability of ODF will require a conformant XML parser, or at
the very least a text viewer capable of displaying Unicode.  Will
XML and Unicode still be in common use in 100 years?  I think that's
the key piece for the long term use of any XML format -- the availability
of an XML parser and Unicode font, or at least a mapping table that maps
Unicode characters into whatever character set is in use in a 100 years.
 

-Rob