Sun sponsors Patrick Durusau to edit next ISO/IEC version of ODF
Sun announced yesterday that they have sponsored Patrick Durusau's contract to act as editor of the ODF 1.2 specification.
I noticed a couple of weeks ago that Patrick made some complimentary comments about the work done by ISO/IEC DIS 29500 editor, Rex Jaeschke:-
PS: And no, I am not one of those who want to simply bash Microsoft about OpenXML. I think the recent activity by TC 45 to produce all the answers in ISO was quite remarkable, despite the fact that I continue to disagree with some of the resolutions. That does not take anything way from TC 45 and its members for having done a quite remarkable job.
Rick Jelliffe then drew the world's attention to an open letter by Patrick entitled is “Open XML: a Poster Child for Open Standards Development?”. Patrick starts his letter by expressing puzzlement at questions over the "openness" of OpenXML
I have seen some attacks on OpenXML saying it is not an "open" standard. I am quite puzzled by those attacks and think that OpenXML makes the case for open development of standards.
Understand that as the Project Editor for ISO/IEC 26300 and the OpenDocument Format TC editor in OASIS, I carry no brief for OpenXML. However, a well defined and publicly controlled OpenXML would be a great benefit for future work on the OpenDocument Format standard so I have no reason to wish it ill.
and closes by noting
I understand that SC 34 will be taking on the maintenance and future development of OpenXML (with the participation of Ecma). That will mean that approximately 70% of the world's population will have a say (through their respective national bodies) on how OpenXML continues to develop. I can't speak for anyone other than myself but that sounds pretty open to me. (That presumes approval of OpenXML as an ISO standard, which must be decided by every national body for itself.)
The OpenXML project has made a large amount of progress in terms of the openness of its development. Objections that do not recognize that are focusing on what they want to see and not what is actually happening with OpenXML.
I've made these same points my self many times in discussions about OpenXML and ODF. My long held opinion remains that approval of DIS29500 by ISO/IEC will be a great benefit to ODF not just in respect to its future development, but also in respect of its adoption and uptake.
I welcome Patrick's appointment as editor of the ODF 1.2 specification. This will represent an important milestone for ODF as it addresses many of the major shortcomings that exist in the prematurely standardised (IMHO) version 1 specification.
I hope and expect that ODF 1.2 will benefit from the same level of attention that OpenXML has had from the various National Standards Bodies, many of whom seemed to pass the original spec with little or no review at all. ODF 1.2 will then be a substantially better specification than the current version, and hopefully finally suitable as a viable option alongside OpenXML, PDF, XPS, UOF and CDF.