Cart
|
[XML-DEV Mailing List Archive Home] [By Thread] [By Date] [Recent Entries] [Reply To This Message] OOXML: So what *should* happen now?
 OOXML didn't make it in the first round balloting for fast track acceptance. What should happen now? As far as I can tell, everyone agrees that OOXML is a Good Thing, and giving it clear intellectual property rights is a Good Thing. I think there is some disagreement as to whether it should be a standard, and if so, whether fast track processes are appropriate. From discussion so far, I think I see (at least) the following points of view: 1. OOXML should be accepted as a standard in the second fast track ballot once the technical comments are addressed. I think proponents of this view believe either (a) that any company or group that proposes such a standard should have it accepted (Rick Jeliffe has argued this), or (b) OOXML represents a broader consortium of software vendors than just Microsoft and it's partners, and we need an interchange format like this. 2. OOXML should be standardized, but not through a fast track process. The formats should be allowed to change to meet the needs of a broader group of users and vendors. I think proponents of this view believe that a single vendor should not have as much control over a standard as Microsoft has had over OOXML, and that standards should be accepted "as is" only when the players in a given market have worked together to produce something that represents industry agreement, such as 3. Microsoft should simply publish OOXML, providing clear IPR statements, and possibly setting up a community process for further developing the format. I think proponents of this view believe that Microsoft wants to open up their formats, but is unlikely to want the broader community to strongly influence the formats themselves, which Microsoft would like some control over. Related to this: what role should ODF play as a standard? Here are some opinions I've heard: 4. ODF should be the ISO standard for office formats. I think that proponents of this view believe that ODF can represent any OOXML document, with modest effort to support things like spreadsheet formulas that are not well supported at present. (Some OOXML supporters say that ODF represents office documents, but OOXML represents enterprise office documents. The main example given to illustrate the difference seems to be having a representation for spreadsheet formulas - is there more to this, or am I missing something?) 5. ODF may have been adopted as a standard, but it's pretty much irrelevant. Thoughts? Jonathan 
[Date Prev] | [Thread Prev] | [Thread Next] | [Date Next] -- [Date Index] | [Thread Index] |
PURCHASE STYLUS STUDIO ONLINE TODAY!Purchasing Stylus Studio from our online shop is Easy, Secure and Value Priced! 
Download The World's Best XML IDE!Accelerate XML development with our award-winning XML IDE - Download a free trial today! Subscribe in XML format
|
|||||||||
