[odf-discuss] Gnome, Ecma, and what governments (and FOSS?) should have done

[M. Fioretti]

On Sat, Nov 03, 2007 11:01:04 AM -0400, Jody Goldberg (jody at gnome.org)
wrote:

> Until MS decides to release their source code in a way that I can
> see it without being forever polluted the only way to get
> information about their spec is to ask them.

This is implicitly equivalent to admitting that "there is no way to
avoid to keep _creating_ files in proprietary formats (even from
proprietary software), we're screwed beyond recovery". Or to saying
"yes, there is nothing wrong to allow one single for-profit company
some other decade of complete locking and control of the way we
(private and governments) store or exchange OUR documents".

This is probably what is creating most of the good faith displeasure
around these events (and, I'd bet, around most of the quarrels about
"complete roundtrip interop, where, when, how").

> > Probably. Thanks for making easier for ODF to become just as
> > concrete as the Easter bunny or for, at least, not focusing to
> > strengthen what is certainly the lesser evil, if not THE only
> > solution viable in this particular moment.
>
> What in the name of <inserty diety> does that statement have to do
> with ODF ?? You laid out a request that MS clean up the mess they
> had created, effectively requesting reparations from them.

Only if they want to remain suppliers of Governments. And I pointed
out that it would be nothing more that what is asked in other field,
like pollution. In any case:
 
> I have taken part in ODF development, and wrote small portions of
> the new formula spec... what would you have me do ?

I understand your resentment, and I had already decided to make
something clear here on list even before receiving this last message.

The more this story unfolds, the more I think that it should have been
handled differently, by you and/or the Gnome Foundation.

However, personally I didn't even know your name until ten days ago.
I do _not_ think that you're the root of all evil, that you'll burn in
hell forever for documenting MS formats or anything of the sort.

In other words, it's nothing personal, not for me certainly: you're
just working in a field which I and many others feel as critical,
especially in this moment. As for "what would you have me to do",
thanks God we're all different: you're certainly an enourmously better
coder than I'll always be, I almost certainly suck less as an advocate
than as a coder, so that's OK.

As a matter of fact, the _only_ thing that really made me nervous and
prompted _me_ to step in is not even your actual involvement in this
odyssey. It is only the attitude (not just in your statements in this
thread, but in general, every time I encounter it in FOSS programmers,
nothing personal, again) that "hey, X is just a technical issue and
there's no doubt that Y is technically the smartest thing to do about
it".

As I more or less already said 5/6 messages ago, if all these things
had just been technical, rather than mainly social issues, they would
have been solved by themselves decades ago.

So, if there were just one thing I'd be entitled to ask you it would
be not "do this" or "do that" but "PLEASE, always remember that this
whole business is only marginally, very marginally, a technical one".

Hope this clarifies my own point of view. And thanks for the constance
in following these discussions.

Ciao,
	Marco
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