[odf-discuss] OOXML: The next step

[robert_weir at us.ibm.com]

Sorry Paul, but now you are conflating the Law with your interpretation of 
the Law.  What I am saying is that if your interpretation of the law, 
which I hear being expressed by no other competent authority, is at odds 
with all evident practice in standardization, then I must pause and wonder 
whether your interpretation is correct.  My doubt need not be grounded on 
any legal analysis.  It is sufficient, to me at least, to observe that 
your interpretation does not appear to be widely held. 

Of course, that doesn't prove anything.  Absence of evidence is not 
evidence of absence.  I could be wrong.  But you must admit that your 
interpretation is just a wee bit less persuasive in light of the fact that 
no court or competent regulatory body has ever ruled on your line of 
reasoning, and thousands of existing standards seemingly violate it?

As for your question, you asked whether I will  "clearly and unambiguously 
specify that conformance requirements essential to achieve the 
interoperability" and will the standards-based interoperability between 
*different* IT systems be "demonstrable," as required by JTC 1 Directives? 


To that I can say that we are rewriting the conformance clauses in ODF 
1.2, per OASIS requirements.  I believe this also accords well with the 
JTC1 requirements.  But honestly, I also believe that what we have in ODF 
1.0 also complies with JTC1 requirements.  In other words, I don't believe 
that the JTC1 requirements prevent a standard from defining conformance in 
a way that allows conformant applications from also allowing vendor 
extensions.

In any case, I am very serious about interoperability.  But I believe that 
vendor extensions are an insignificant source of real-world 
interoperability problems when it comes to ODF.  The real-world issues are 
more around partial implementations, or defective interpretations of the 
standard.  So that's where I put my efforts.  If any one else is 
interested in helping to solve the real-world problems, then I'd recommend 
the same.

-Rob
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