[odf-discuss] Gnome Foundation and ECMA

[Daniel Carrera]

From: Lars Noodén <lars at umich.edu>

> It's really darn hard to try to say with a straight face that GNOME is
> not sponsoring... the development of MSOOXML, if GNOME is financially
> supporting ... participation/membership of a GNOME developer who is there
> in his role as GNOME developer.

The problem with that turn of phrase, Lars, is that it confuses "we want to make OOXML more interoperable for the good of FOSS" with "we love OOXML". Greenpeace owns large shares in some oil firms, not because they support oil but because that gives them a voice in the board to alter the firm's practices. Making it easier for FOSS apps to interop with OOXML is a good thing. If Gnome says "we love OOXML and want it to be an ISO standard" that would be a bad thing. What do we do? Is there a solution? I like Rob's idea of Gnome sponsoring someone to work on ODF. Yet, as Jeff has said, nobody has asked for Gnome's support to join OASIS, and there is already a Gnome developer working, as an independent individual, working on ODF.

These things are never simple. I don't have a brilliant suggestion right now.

With that said, Lar's suggestion of an open letter or some sort of official Gnome position is worth consideration. For example, a sort of FAQ mostly containing the things that Jeff has already said ("Gnome does not dictate the opinions of its members, nor should it" and "Gnome feels that making OOXML more clear will help FOSS") and maybe also something to the effect of "yay for ODF" and "only one ISO standard", if that's the way Gnome feels.


Cheers,
Daniel.