[odf-discuss] Response from a GNOME Foundation board director

[Ian Lynch]

On Wed, 2007-10-31 at 18:44 -0400, Pamela Jones wrote:
> %(got_listinfo_url)s
> You are assuming that Alex Brown will be addressing interoperability 
> issues.  Is it a requirement that he do so?
> 
> Do you have any indication that this is on the table? He has after all 
> said that only technical questions will be addressed in Feb. at the 
> meeting he chairs.
> 
> So, is interoperability considered a technical or a political, so to 
> speak, issue?  Anyone know?

Interesting question. An ISO standard should be free to implement, but
that doesn't mean it has to be interoperable with another standard.  I
suppose you could say that the technical issue of making two standards
interoperable depends on them both being open but it does depend on
other things too that I would have thought are beyond the scope of ISO.

To answer Marbux, I think that the Gnome issue is different from the
profit making companies because the values of a not for profit
organisation are not the same as for profit making company. Generally
for profit companies exist for the benefit of their shareholder, not for
profits exist for some noble cause. Its quite easy to see why Gnome's
involvement with ECMA would be seen as different from Novell, Sun or
Apple by the community.

Again, think people, think emotions, think perception not technical
details. This is about human and community relationships, not coding or
legal analysis. 

Ian
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