[odf-discuss] Native ODF support in browsers

[David Cartwright]

> Then we agree that there's no need of mixing HTML and ODF, and thus, a plugin 
> is good enough and already supported on KDE. What Alex was proposing (please 
> correct me otherwise) was to embed ODF inside HTML, thus requiring 'native' 
> support in browsers as they would need for SVG or MathML.
>
>
>   
While embedding ODF inside HTML is a good short-term solution, I don't 
believe it is a good long-term solution.

I certainly don't want to belabor the point, however I believe it is 
strategically important to appreciate that ODF cannot just be viewed as 
an Office document format. It is a format that increasingly can and 
should 'live' in a web-centric world.

I believe that tools such as KOffice, OO.o and IBM Workplace will 
provide idea solutions for the creation of ODF documents by a 'typical' 
user. Increasingly these documents will be consumed in a web 
environment, for which a web browser is an ideal tool.

A solution that always wrapped ODF in HTML would mean that ODF could 
never attain the same prominence that HTML has in a web-centric world. 
On the other hand, by allowing ODF to be rendered 'natively' by web 
browsers, we would be encouraging a new spurt of ODF development because 
of its broadening relevance.

How many people envisaged the level of innovation that we have seen in 
HTML during the last decade? I would suggest very few. I would suggest 
that native rendering of ODF in web browsers would also open up hitherto 
unimagined applications and opportunities for ODF.

At this stage the only expression of interest to assist pursue a 
proposal for Firefox 3 has been from Lars Noodén. [Albeit I would be 
delighted to hear that there is interest from the KDE developers to go 
to the next stage beyond an ODF wrapper.]

Are there are any final thoughts/comments? Is the idea of making a 
proposal for Firefox 3 a go/no-go?