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Re: OOXML: So what *should* happen now?

• From: "bryan rasmussen" <rasmussen.bryan@g...>
• To: "Jonathan Robie" <jonathan.robie@r...>
• Date: Thu, 6 Sep 2007 15:54:10 +0200

ODF might win because of Google, but I think what will win the
'Office' is some future compound documents type way of doing things.

OOXML might win in the short run the 'Office' but it looses out on all
of the benefits offered by the standard stack of XML processing
technologies due to a perverse structure that makes it far far easier
to work with MS System.IO.Packaging or the newer Open XML SDK. This
will become more apparent as more standards stack technologies gain
ground. ODF is still somewhat painful but it is no more painful than
most ungainly XML formats, UBL for example. OOXML is a monstrosity to
work with without a wall of some sort.

Because of not being fast tracked OOXML might not even win in the short run.

I guess I am willing to be in the group 4 camp, but that is only
because I don't believe either of them will last as they are currently
structure through the next five years. I mean not even in a form
relatively similar to what they are now.

Cheers,
Bryan Rasmussen

On 9/6/07, Jonathan Robie <jonathan.robie@r...> wrote:
> 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
>
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• References:
  • OOXML: So what *should* happen now?
    • From: Jonathan Robie <jonathan.robie@r...>