[odf-discuss] Response to Andy Updegrove's article about the Foundation

[Kevin Cave]

marbux wrote:
<snip>

> I hope this gives you a sufficient overview but don't hesitate to ask 
> other questions. (The About page will hopefully be more compressed.) The 
> Council is going to be every bit as open as I can make it given the 
> limitations of software, time, and my abilities.
> 
> Best regards,
> 
> Paul Merrell ("Marbux")

Paul,

Thank you for your comprehensive and informative answer, I enjoyed 
reading it.

I might make one suggestion to yourself, and to anyone who chooses to 
join the Council, which should be followed relentlessly, and it is this;

That if you wish an interoperability standard to be set, against or with 
any other standard, that anyone in the council do not disparage the 
other set standards in the process, no matter how much flak you receive 
from supporters of the other standard supporters.

It is only through following that advice that you can remain on the high 
ground, and can be seen as honorable, trustworthy, and consistent. I 
feel personally that recent events - such as for example, the 
OpenDocument Foundation's /appearance/ of turning on the OpenDocument 
Format - handed FUD ammunition to other interests on a plate - something 
I wrote about at the time.

I have deliberately stayed out of the MSOOXML/ODF fighting over the last 
couple of months for the very reason that 1) other sites and people were 
fighting, and 2) although I have a bias towards Free and Open Source 
software, and Open standards, I wanted to stay out of the fray and come 
to my own conclusions (while of course correcting what I perceived to be 
blatant FUD articles on the web along the way).

If this new Council can avoid slinging mud at everyone else, and instead 
find its way to direct its energy towards forming its own standard(s) 
for interoperability, even if mud is being flung at it, then I'm sure 
perseverance will win out.

I also hope that any format your council can come up with will be truly 
Open, with no patent or proprietary issues involved too. That would be 
great.

My tuppence worth.

Best regards

Kevin.
-- 
Kevin Cave.
http://hackfud.net