As many of you know, I've had an abiding
interest in ODF interoperability. I'm not so interested in the speculative
side of how we'll all be happy and harmonized a decade from now. I'm
more interested in the practical side of how to ensure that two ODF implementations
today can improve their interoperability. There are some basic engineering
activities that must take place to achieve a high degree of interoperability
between ODF implementations, and this includes things like creating test
suites, conformance assessment tools, profiles, etc.
We discussed this issue at some length
in the ODF Adoption TC. We all agreed that an effort in this area
was necessary, but it wasn't clear where it would best be placed. In
the ODF TC? In the ODF Adoption TC? Outside of OASIS altogether?
None of these were a good fit.
So, we decided to propose a new TC within
OASIS called the "ODF Implementation, Interoperability and Conformance
(IIC) TC". This TC could own everything from test suites, to
mobile or web profiles of ODF, to implementation guides, to technical reports
on how to use ODF with other standards. The charter can be as broad
or narrow as we want it to be. I've proposed a draft charter, which
you can read below, based on the charter of the ebXML Implementation, Interoperability
and Conformance (IIC) TC.
The first step in creating a new TC
in OASIS to to create a discussion list and send out a Call for Participation.
This happened last night and the note is appended below. This
is where we can discuss the terms of the new TC's charter, the goals, deliverables,
etc., before putting this out for a formal approval ballot within OASIS.
This stage of the process can last up to 90 days, though we can move
for the ballot sooner than that, once we have sufficient interest and consensus.
I'm inviting you to join this list and
to share your thoughts on the charter of this new TC, and hopefully to
participate in it eventually. There is no intent to overlap with
the deliverables of the ODF TC. In fact, this new TC could provide
an avenue for producing some deliverables that are outside the limits of
what an ISO-track standard typically contains. For example, a test
suite for OpenFormula would be a natural deliverable for the new TC.
Everyone is eligible to join the discussion
list, OASIS members as well as non-members. But you will need to
subscribe to the mailing list by sending a note to:
oiic-formation-discuss-subscribe@lists.oasis-open.org
and then responding to the confirmation note.
Regards,
-Rob