[odf-discuss] Gnome Foundation and ECMA

[Jeff Waugh]

<quote who="Pamela Jones">

> You seem to be saying that you supported and support Jody's participation
> in ECMA, but Jody is responsible for his own words and activities.

The GNOME Foundation, via its NFP organisational membership of ECMA, has
facilitated Jody's continued participation in the working group since he
left Novell. His rationale and our support for it was pretty clear:

  "[Non-voting] committee members have the ability to request clarifications
  and suggest improvements in the text of the specification. For anyone
  implementing parts of this format this is a golden chance to get enough
  documentation to facilitate interoperability."

Entirely reasonable, and not at all an attack on ODF or GNOME-funded support
for OOXML as has been suggested by some commentators.

> If you as the foundation support his participation, then why isn't the
> Gnome Foundation seeking to control at least how its name is being used?

Our name is being used to show that we're a member of ECMA, and that we have
facilitated Jody's involvement on that committee. In that respect, the use
of the GNOME Foundation's name is entirely under our control, and we are not
concerned about it as a result.

> If he is free to do and say whatever he pleases, then why is Gnome's name
> on the list instead of his?

What Jody has done as part of the ECMA working group was facilitated by the
GNOME Foundation. Why would any other name be used when that is the truth of
the matter, and the structure under which he participates?


Finally, on the matter of Jody's opinions related to ODF, OOXML and his work
supporting both in his software: That's entirely up to him as an independent
GNOME hacker. We are an enormous community, sharing common values on a range
of issues, but we can differ in extremes about others. Jody is a bloody good
hacker, and has done amazing work -- his depth of experience on these issues
is something all of us respect, even if there may be disagreement about some
of his opinions. Lord knows there's disagreement with some of mine! Should I
expect some kind of conformity from Jody that I wouldn't accept myself? Nup.


I'll finish this mail with an observation: If the goal of ODF advocates is
to get Microsoft to drop OOXML and join in the development of a single open
standard document format (wouldn't that be awesome for the industry and our
users?), how much incentive do you think they'll have to join us if this is
how we treat our own?

I'm not sure a witch hunt is the best siren song we can offer... :-)

- Jeff

-- 
  Jeff Waugh
  Director, GNOME Foundation
  m: +61 423 989 818
  p: +61 2 9318 0284
  w: http://perkypants.org/