AFNOR has recommended to ISO adopting an approach enabling it to guarantee – using ISO processes – mid-term convergence between Open Document Format (ODF) and OfficeOpen XML (OOXML), as well as the stabilisation of OOXML on a short-term basis.
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ODF and OOXML must converge!! AFNOR, the French Standards Body, announces proposals for... - 0 views
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Firstly, to restructure the ECMA standard in two parts so as to differentiate between, on the one hand, a core of essential and simple functionalities to be implemented (OOXML-Core) and, on the other hand, all the additional functionalities required for compatibility with the stocks of existing office document files created by numerous users, which will be gathered within a package called OOXML-Extensions. Secondly, AFNOR proposes to take into account a full series of technical comments submitted to the draft in order to make OOXML an ISO document of the highest possible technical and editorial quality. Thirdly, it proposes to attribute to OOXML the status of ISO/TS for three years. Finally, AFNOR proposes to set up a process of convergence between ISO/IEC 26300 and the OOXML-Core. In order to achieve this, AFNOR will begin the simultaneous revision of ISO/IEC 26300 and of ISO/TS OOXML (subject to the latter being adopted after the aforementioned restructuring), so as to obtain the most universal possible single standard at the end of the convergence process. Any subsequent evolutions will be decided upon at ISO level and no longer at the level of such a group or category of players.
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French experts have determined that it is technically possible to converge ODF and MS-OOXML, into a single, revisable document format standard?
The plan has four parts:
"Firstly, to restructure the ECMA standard in two parts so as to differentiate between, on the one hand, a core of essential and simple functionalities to be implemented (OOXML-Core) and, on the other hand, all the additional functionalities required for compatibility with the stocks of existing office document files created by numerous users, which will be gathered within a package called OOXML-Extensions."
"Secondly, AFNOR proposes to take into account a full series of technical comments submitted to the draft in order to make OOXML an ISO document of the highest possible technical and editorial quality."
"Thirdly, it proposes to attribute to OOXML the status of ISO/TS for three years."
Fourth, "Finally, AFNOR proposes to set up a process of convergence between ISO/IEC 26300 and the OOXML-Core. In order to achieve this, AFNOR will begin the simultaneous revision of ISO/IEC 26300 and of ISO/TS OOXML (subject to the latter being adopted after the aforementioned restructuring), so as to obtain the most universal possible single standard at the end of the convergence process. Any subsequent evolutions will be decided upon at ISO level and no longer at the level of such a group or category of players."
So there you go. A solution that removes ODF and OOXML from the clam
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Rough Type: Nicholas Carr's Blog: Fat Guy in Salesforce hell - Flock - 0 views
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Second, don't underestimate the lock-in power that programs like Outlook and Excel and Quickbooks and Peachtree and their associated files still hold, particularly in smaller businesses. Someday we may have standard document formats and easily transportable data, but we don't yet. The competitive battle for the future of software is going to be fought out at the level of the Little Picture as much as at the level of the Big Picture. Lose sight of either one, and you'll be in trouble. In other words: It ain't over till the Fat Guy rants.
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Wow! Another great quote from Nick. When we were at the Office 2.0 Conference a few weeks ago, this was the problem every single collaborative computing initiative was facing. Sure they had great collaborative efforts. But these efforts were outside exisitng businesss processes and applications! That's fine for kids and consumers. But it's the kiss of death for enterprise, smb, and organizations with workgroup busines sprocesses based on MSOffice and Outlook.
So no matter how innovative the WEb 2.0 - Office 2.0 - Enterprise 2.0 applications and services are, they are setting the marketplace for Microsoft to come in and take everything. Because Microsoft and Microsoft alone ownes the interoperability - integration interfaces into MSOffice and Outlook, they are in a position to destroy any of the 2.0 players at will. It's simply a matter of entering the space with their own 2.0 application or service.
The more i see of this, the more convinced i am that the governemnts of the world are going to have to step in stop Microsoft's push to move from the desktop into server, device and web systems.
~ge~
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Groklaw - Microsoft, antitrust and innovation, by Georg Greve - 0 views
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Interoperability: The second abusive practice the Commission found Microsoft guilty of is the deliberate obstruction of interoperability, generally achieved through arbitrary and willful modification of Open Standards. This makes it impossible for competitors to write interoperable software. This is to the detriment of customers, who find themselves locked into the products of one vendor, the antithesis of competition.
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It might look much worse in the light of public statements that Microsoft will not even commit to standards that it has proposed itself, such as the recent Microsoft OfficeOpenXML (OOXML) format it wants approved by ISO. The less people talk about the interoperability side of the case, the better for Microsoft. Otherwise people might connect MS-OOXML to the fact that Microsoft initiated the standardisation effort in the workgroup server area to open the market and later started obstruction of interoperability on its own standard to drive the innovator out of the market.
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Great point. I think tha tanytime a big vendor embraces an open standard they should committ to full public documentation and explanation of any eXtensions to their implementaiton of that standard. Interoperability matters!
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Excellent explanation of Microsoft's problems in Europe. One can only hope that the successor to the Bush Administration is paying attention.
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Microsoft Partners with Atlassian & NewsGator - SharePoint Goes Web 2.0 - Flock - 0 views
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4) Linking; Within Confluence, users can access SharePoint document facilities. By including SharePoint lists and content within Confluence, users can (in a single click) edit Microsoft Office documents.
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Pay close attention here boys and girls because here it is. Wonder why Microsoft is wealing, dealing and ready to shell out billions for Web 20 collaboration software? It's to tie them into the MS Stack of MSOffice, IE, Exchange/SharePoint, MS LIve, MS Dynamics, MS SQL Server, etc.
Grand convergence is the convergence of desktop, server, device and web systems. It increasing looks like were going to have to live with the MS Stack and the Open Stack of grand convergence interoperability. One will be able to have perfect interop within it's walls, with all applications able to handle the same compound XML document. The other will be totally unable to implement an inteoperable version of MS-OOXML.
Members of the MS Stack will be able to access everything in the Open Stacks, but outside systems will have limited (crippled) access into the MS Stack. Embrace, Extend, Extinguish. Here we go again.
~ge~
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Can a file be ODF and Open XML at the same time? (and HTML? and a Java servlet? and a P... - 0 views
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The recent bomb in the ODF world from Gary Edward’s claims that Sun successfully blocked the addition of features to ODF that would be needed for full interchange with Office are explosive not only because they demonstrate how ODF was (properly, in my view) developed to cope with the particular features of the participants, not really as a universal format, but also because the prop up Microsoft’s position that Open XML is required because it exposes particular features that ISO ODF is not capable of exposing. Both because ODF is still in progress and because sometimes the features are simply incompatible in the details.
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Actually, ODF is about to get a new manifest along with the new metadata stuff. Because we base that on RDF, the manifest will also be RDF-based. It gives us the extensibility we want to provide (extension developers, for example, can add extra metadata they may need), without having to worry about breaking compatibility. The primary addition we've made is a mechanism to bind a stable URI to in-document content node ids and files. This is conceptually not all that different than what I see in OPC; it's just that the unique IDs are in fact URIs. Among other things, in the RDF context that allows further statements to be bound to those URIs. Bruce D'Arcus | July 29, 2007 01:02 PM
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Microsoft Support for ODF - the Q&A - 0 views
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Hi Gary,I am a technology journalist with Asia's ONLY Linux-focused magazine, LINUX For You. I am working on a story revolving the recent development of Microsoft supporting ODF Format. I want to understand the equation of the whole development, would you please help me understand: Q1. What do you think drove Microsoft to support the ODF format?
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This is the full response to Swapnil's seven questions. It's long. But we hold back nothing! Thanks again to Marbux. He is a peach!
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ODF and differences of opinion | TalkBack on ZDNet - 0 views
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Just because we are garage challenged doesn't mean we can't find the back door to the big house :) The larger issue at stake here is not whether or not we have a garage, or what our contribution to ODF has been over the course of five years as active members of OASIS ODF. What it really comes down to is the implementation of ODF in the real world.
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Is It Game Over? - ODF Advocate Andy UpDegrove is Worried. Very Worried - 0 views
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This seems to me to be a turning point for the creation of global standards. Microsoft was invited to be part of the original ODF Technical Committee in OASIS, and chose to stand aside. That committee tried to do its best to make the standard work well with Office, but was naturally limited in that endeavor by Microsoft's unwillingness to cooperate. This, of course, made it easier for Microsoft to later claim a need for OOXML to be adopted as a standard, in order to "better serve its customers." The refusal by an incumbent to participate in an open standards process is certainly its right, but it is hardly conduct that should be rewarded by a global standards body charged with watching out for the best interests of all.
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Andy UpDegrove takes on the issue of Microsoft submitting their proprietary "XML alternative to PDF" proposal to Ecma for consideration as an international standard. MS XML-PDF will compliment ECMA 376 (OOXML - OfficeOpenXML) which is scheduled for ISO vote in September of 2007. Just a bit over 60 days from today.
Andy points out some interesting things; such as the "Charter" similarities between MS XML-PDF and MS OOXML submisssions to Ecma:
MS XML-PDF Scope: The goal of the Technical Committee is to produce a formal standard for office productivity applications within the Ecma International standards process which is fully compatible with the Office Open XML Formats. The aim is to enable the implementation of the Office Open XML Formats by a wide set of tools and platforms in order to foster interoperability across office productivity applications and with line-of-business systems. The Technical Committee will also be responsible for the ongoing maintenance and evolution of the standard. Programme of Work: Produce a formal standard for an XML-based electronic paper format and XML-based page description language which is consistent with existing implementations of the format called the XML Paper Specification,…[in each case, emphasis added]
If that sounds familiar, it should, because it echoes the absolute directive of the original OOXML technical committee charter, wh
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The Microsoft Document Juggernaut: ECMA to Begin Drafting XPS as Alternative Standard t... - 0 views
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"Be that as it may," Updegrove continues, "perpetuating one monopolistic market position after another seems wholly incompatible with the role of a global standards body, tasked with protecting the interests of all stakeholders. If OOXML, and now Microsoft XML Paper Specification, each sail through ECMA and are then adopted by ISO/IEC JTC1, then it may be time to wonder whether the time has come to declare 'game over' for open standards."
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Game Over! Latest Draft of Mass. ETRM Includes OOXML - 0 views
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this new draft includes Microsoft's OOXML formats as an acceptable "open format."
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Game Over? Probably. I've been expecting Massachusetts to publicly revise the ODF mandate to include OOXML ever since Louis Gutierrez resigned in early October of 2006. That was as clear a signal that ODF had failed in Massachusetts as anyone needed.
The only surprise is that it took the new CIO, Beth Pepoli so long to make the announcement that OOXML would be recognized as an officially recognized open XML file format going forward.
Andy UpDegrove of course does his best to downplay the significance of this announcement. But how can this not be the deathnell for ODF?
The failure of ODF in Massachusetts has resulted in a world wide recognition that it is impossible to implement ODF.
This is exactly what happened to ODF mandate legislature in California. The CIO's in California uniformly rejected both ODF legislation and Sun's hapless effort to set up an ODF Pilot Study based on what had happened in Massachusetts. If Mass couldn't implement ODF, than they saw no reason for them to try.
And it does come down to "implementation".
Most people think the implementation of ODF is as easy as downloading OepnOffice and converting your legacy docuemnts to ODF as they are used. Simply fix the artifacts of conversion in process, and never look back. OOo is free. So what's not to like?
Well, the problem is that the world has fifteen plus years of building business processes, line of business integrated applications and other client/server integration on top of the MSOffice application suite. These business processes are bound hard to MSOffice.
So the barrier for OpenOffice and ODF is twofold. Any implementation of ODF must overcome both the binary documents conversion barrier, and, the MSOffice bound business process barrier.
The cost and disruption of a <font
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Is Sun Friend or Foe? - 0 views
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Published May 22, 2007, this comment was written in the aftermath of List Enhancement Proposal donnybrook at the ODF OASIS TC.
It was at the height of our List Enhancement battle with Sun that OASIS stepped in their threat to boot the OpenDocument Foundation. OASIS carried out that threat in May. The lesson we learned is clear and unequivocal. Opposition to Sun, in either the marketplace (da Vinci) or in the OASIS ODF TC, can be quite hazzardous to your health.
Not that this comes as any surprise. Nearly five years ago in 2002, when i first joined OASIS to work on OpenDocument, it was clear that OASIS was a big vendor consortia. While OASIS does have an affordable "Lawn Jockey" program, Sun is clearly calling all the shots on the OASIS ODF TC. This is why ODF is bound so tightly to the OpenOffice feature set.
Still, we thought the "Lawn Jockey" loophole could be used to balance out the interests and control of the OASIS big vendors. We were wrong. And it took near five years for the obvious to finally sink. Well, "sink in" thanks to the OASIS hammer and boot.
~ge~
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Butcher this! -- Microsoft legislatively TKO's open document formats. - 0 views
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The question we should be asking is why State CIO's and IT divisions are not backing the legislative proposals? It's not the lobbying that is killing ODF. It's the lack of support from those who would have been left with the challenge of implementing ODF solutions. The silence of the CIO's is deafening.
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The title here has nothing to do with the content. The original title is, "Politics is only a small part of this story".
It's been a while since i last posted to the ZDNet TalkBack, and was totally thrown by the TalkBack formating needs. My first post dropped all line breaks, and came out as one long run on sentence.
Now maybe that's the way i write, (and think), but at least with some formatting i can hide that fact!
Still, "Butcher This!" is not a bad title.
~ge~
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Microsoft Watch Finally Gets it - It's the Business Applications!- Obla De OBA Da - 0 views
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To be fair, Microsoft seeks to solve real world problems with respect to helping customers glean more value from their information. But the approach depends on enterprises adopting an end-to-end Microsoft stack—vertically from desktop to server and horizontally across desktop and server products. The development glue is .NET Framework, while the informational glue is OOXML.
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OOXML is the transport - a portable XML document model where the "document" is the interface into content/data/ and media streaming.
The binding model for OOXML is "Smart Documents", and it is proprietary!
Smart Documents is how data, streaming media, scripting-routing-workflow intelligence and metadata is added to any document object.
Think of the ODF binding model using XForms, XML/RDF and RDFA metadata. One could even use Jabber XMP as a binding model, which is how we did the Comcast SOA based Sales and Inventory Management System prototype.
Interestingly, Smart Documents is based on pre written widgets that can simply be dragged, dropped and bound to any document object. The Infopath applicaiton provides a highly visual means for end users to build intelligent self routing forms. But Visual Studio .NET, which was released with MSOffice 2007 in December of 2006. makes it very easy for application and line of business integration developers to implement very advanced data binding using the Smart Document widgets.
I would also go as far to say that what separates MSOOXML from Ecma 376 is going to be primarily Smart Documents.
Yes, there are .NET Framework Libraries and Vista Stack dependencies like XAML that will also provide a proprietary "Vista Stack" only barrier to interoperability, but Smart Documents is a killer.
One company that will be particularly hurt by Smart Documents is Google. The reason is that the business value of Google Search is based on using advanced and closely held proprietary algorithms to provide metadata structure for unstrucutred documents.
This was great for a world awash in unstructured documents. By moving the "XML" structuring of documents down to the author - workgroup - workflow application level though, the world will soon enough be awash in highly structured documents that have end user metadata defining document objects and
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Microsoft seeks to create sales pull along the vertical stack between the desktop and server.
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The vertical stack is actually desktop - server - device - web based. The idea of a portable XML document is that it must be able to transition across the converged application space of this sweeping stack model.
Note that ODF is intentionally limited to the desktop by it's OASIS Charter statement. One of the primary failings of ODF is that it is not able to be fully implemented in this converged space. OOXML on the other hand was created exactly for this purpose!
So ODF is limited to the desktop, and remains tightly bound to OpenOffice feature sets. OOXML differs in that it is tightly bound to the Vista Stack.
So where is an Open Stack model to turn to?
Good question, and one that will come to haunt us for years to come. Because ODF cannot move into the converged space of desktop to server to device to the web information systems connected through portable docuemnt/data transport, it is unfit as a candidate for Universal File Format.
OOXML is unfi as a UFF becuase it is application - platform and vendor bound.
For those of us who believe in an open and unencumbered universal file format, it's back to the drawing board.
XHTML+ (XHTML + CSS3 + RDF) is looking very good. The challenge is proving that we can build plugins for MSOffice and OpenOffice that can fully implement XHTML+. Can we conver the billions of binary legacy documents and existing MSOffice bound business processes to XHTML+?
I think so. But we can't be sure until the da Vinci proves this conclusively.
One thign to keep in mind though. The internal plugins have already shown that it is possible to do multiple file formats. OOXML, ODF, and XML encoded RTF all have been shown to work, and do so with a level of two way conversion fidelity demanded by existing business processes.
So why not try it with XHTML+, or ODEF (the eXtended version of ODF en
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Microsoft's major XML-based format development priority was backward compatibility with its proprietary Office binary file formats.
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This backwards compatibility with the existing binary file formats isn't the big deal Micrsoft makes it out to be. ODF 1.0 includes a "Conformance Clause", (Section 1.5) that was designed and included in the specification exactly so that the billions of binary legacy documents could be converted into ODF XML.
The problem with the ODF Conformance Clause is that the leading ODF application, OpenOffice, does not fully support and implement the Conformance Clause.
The only foreign elements supported by OpenOffice are paragraphs and text spans. Critically important structural document characteristics such as lists, fields, tables, sections and page breaks are not supported!
This leads to a serious drop in conversion fidelity wherever MS binaries are converted to OpenOffice ODF.
Note that OpenOffice ODF is very different from MSOffice ODF, as implemented by internal conversion plugins like da Vinci. KOffice ODF and Googel Docs ODF are all different ODF implementations. Because there are so many different ways to implement ODF, and still have "conforming" ODF documents, there is much truth to the statement that ODF has zero interoperabiltiy.
It's also true that OOXML has optional implementation areas. With ODF we call these "optional" implementation areas "interoperabiltiy break points" because this is exactly where the document exchange presentation fidelity breaks down, leaving the dominant market ODF applicaiton as the only means of sustaining interoperabiltiy.
With OOXML, the entire Vista Stack - Win32 dependency layer is "optional". No doubt, all MSOffice - Exchange/SharePoint Hub applications will implement the full sweep of proprietary dependencies. This includes the legacy Win32 API dependencies (like VML, EMF, EMF +), and the emerging Vista Stack dependencies that include Smart Documents, XAML, .NET 3.0 Libraries, and DrawingML.
MSOffice 2007 i
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Microsoft's backwards compatibility priority means the company made XML-based format decisions that compromise the open objectives of XML. Open Office XML is neither open nor XML.
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True, but a tricky statement given that the proprietary OOXML implementation is "optional". It is theoretically possible to implement Ecma 376 without the prorpietary dependencies of MSOffice - Exchange/SharePoint Hub - Vista Stack "OOXML".
In fact, this was first demonstrated by the legendary document processing - plugin architecture expert, Florian Reuter.
Florian has the unique distinction of being the primary architect for two major plugins: the da Vinci ODF plugin for MSOffice, and, the Novell OOXML Translator plugin for OpenOffice!
It is the Novell OOXML Translator Plugin for OpenOffice that first demonstrated that Ecma 376 could be cleanly implemented without the MSOffice application-platform-vendor specific dependencies we find in every MSOffice OOXML document.
So while Joe is technically correct here, that OOXML is neither open nor XML, there is a caveat. For 95% of all desktops and near 100% of all desktops in a workgroup, Joe's statment holds true. For all practical concerns, that's enough. For Microsoft's vaunted marketing spin machine though, they will make it sound as though OOXML is actually open and application-platform-vendor independent.
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Microsoft got there first to protect Office.
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No. I disagree. Microsoft needs to move to XML structured documents regardless of what others are doing. The binary document model is simply unable to be useful to any desktop- to server- to device- to the web- transport!
Many wonder what Microsoft's SOA strategy is. Well, it's this: the Vista Stack based on OOXML-Smart Documents-.NET.
The thing is, Microsoft could not afford to market a SOA solution until all the proprietary solutions of the Vista Stack were in place.
The Vista Stack looks like this:
..... The core :: MSOffice <> OOXML <> IE <> The Exchange/SharePoint Hub
..... The services :: E/S HUb <> MS SQL Server <> MS Dynamics <> MS Live <> MS Active Directory Server <> MSOffice RC Front End
The key to the stack is the OOXML-Smart Documents capture of EXISTING MSOffice bound business processes and documents.
The trick for Microsoft is to migrate these existing business processes and documents to the E/S Hub where line of business developers can re engineer aging desktop LOB apps.
The productivity gains that can be had through this migration to the E/S Hub are extraordinary.
A little over a year ago an E/S Hub verticle market application called "Agent Achieve" came out for the real estate industry. AA competed against a legacy of twenty years of contact management based - MLS data connected desktop shrinkware applications. (MLS-Multiple Listing Service)
These traditional desktop client/server productivity apps defined the real estate business process as far as it could be said to be "digital". For the most part, the real estate transaction industry remains a paper driven process. The desktop stuff was only useful for managing clients and lead prospecting. No one could crack the electronic documents - electonic business transaction model. This will no doubt change with the emer
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Microsoft can offer businesses many of the informational sharing and mining benefits associated with the markup language while leveraging Office and supporting desktop and server products as the primary consumption conduit.
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Okay, now Joe has the Micrsoft SOA bull by the horns. Why doesn't he wrestle the monster down?
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By adapting XML
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The requirements of these E/S Hub systems are XP, XP MSOffice 2003 Professional, Exchange Server with OWL (Outlook on the Web) , SharePoint Server, Active Directory Server, and at least four MS SQL Servers!
In Arpil of 2006, Microsoft issued a harsh and sudden End-of-Life for all Windows 2000 - MSOffice 2000 systems in the real estate industry (although many industries were similarly impacted). What happened is that on a Friday afternoon, just prior to a big open house weekend, Microsoft issued a security patch for all Exchange systems. Once the patch was installed, end users needed IE 7.0 to connect to the Exchange Server Systems.
Since there is no IE 7.0 made for Windows 2000, those users relying on E/S Hub applications, which was the entire industry, suddenly found themselves disconnected and near out of business.
Amazingly, not a single user complained! Rather than getting pissed at Microsoft for the sudden and very disruptive EOL, the real estate users simply ran out to buy new XP-MSOffice 2003 systems. It was all done under the rational that to be competitive, you have to keep up with technology systems.
Amazing. But it also goes to show how powerfully productive the E/S Hub applications can be. This wouldn't have happened if the E/S Hub applications didn't have a very high productivity value.
When we visited Massachusetts in June of 2006, to demonstrate and test the da Vinci ODF plugin for MSOffice, we found them purchasing en mass E/S Hubs! These are ODF killers! Yet Microsoft sales people had convinced Massachusetts ITD that Exchange/SahrePoint was a simple to use eMail-calendar-portal system. Not a threat to anyone!
The truth is that in the E/S Hub ecosystem, OOXML is THE TRANSPORT. ODF is a poor, second class attachment of no use at the application - document processing chain level.
Even if Massachusetts had mandated ODF, they were only one E/S Hub Court Doc
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Microsoft will vie for the whole business software stack, a strategy that I believe will be indisputable by early 2009 at the latest.
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Finally, someone who understands the grand strategy of levergaing the desktop monopoly into the converged space of server, device and web information systems.
What Joe isn't watching is the way the Exchange/SharePoint Server connects to MS SQL Server, Active Directory Server, MS LIve and MS Dynamics.
Also, Joe does not see the connection between OOXML as the portable XML document/data transport, and the insidiously proprietary Smart Documents metadata - data binding system that totally separates MSOOXML from Ecma 376 OOXML!
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I'm convinced that Office as a platform is an eventual dead end. But Microsoft is going to lead lots of customers and partners down that platform path.
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Yes, but the new platform for busines process development is that of MSOffice <> Exchange/SharePoint Hub.
The OOXML-Smart Docs transport replaces the old binary document with OLE and VBA Scripts and Macros functionality. Which, for the sake of brevity we can call the lead Win32 API dependencies.
One substantial difference is that OOXML-Smart Docs is Vista Stack ready, while the Win32 API dependencies were desktop bound.
Another way of looking at this is to see that the old MSOffice platform was great for desktop application integration. As long as the complete Win32 API was available (Windows + MSOffice + VBA run times), this platform was great for workgroups. The Line of Business integrated apps were among the most brittle of all client/server efforts, bu they were the best for that generation.
The Internet offers everyone a new way of integrating data, content and streaming media. Web applications are capable of loosly coupled serving and consuming of other application services. Back end systems can serve up data in a number of ways: web services as SOAP, web services as AJAX/REST, or XML data streams as in HTTPXMLRequest or Jabber P2P model.
On the web services consumption side, it looks like AJAX/REST will be the block buster choice, if the governance and security issues can be managed.
Into this SOA mash Microsoft will push with a sweeping integrated stack model. Since the Smart Docs part of the OOXML-Samrt Docs transport equation is totally proprietary, but used throughout the Vista Stack, it will provide Microsoft with an effective customer lockin - OSS lockout point.
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The Merging of SOA and Web 2.0: 2 - 0 views
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In many cases, the mashups' data or information sources have incompatible formats so integration becomes a problem.
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Great article series from eWeek. A must read. But it all comes down to interoperability across two stack models: The Microsoft Vista Stack, and an alternative Open Stack model that does not yet exist!
Incompatible formats become a nightmare for the kind of integration any kind of SOA implementation depends on, let alone the Web 2.0 AJAX MashUps this article focuses on.
I wonder why eWEEK didn't include the Joe Wilcox Micrsoft Watch Article, "Obla De OBA Da". Joe hit hard on the connection between OOXML and the Vista Stack. He missed the implications this will have on MS SOA solutions. Open Source SOA solutions will be locked out of the Vista Stack. And with 98% or more of existing desktop business processes bound to MSOffice, the transition of these business processes to the Vista Stack will no doubt have a dramatic impact on the marketplace. Before the year is out, we'll see Redmond let loose with a torrent of MS SOA solutions. The only reason they've held back is that they need to first have all the Vista Stack pieces in place.
I don't think Microsoft is being held back by OOXML approval at ISO either. ISO approval might have made a difference in Europe in 2006, but even there, the EU IDABC has dropped the ISO requirement. For sure ISO approval means nothing in the US, as California and Massachusetts have demonstrated.
All that matters to State CIO's is that they can migrate exisiting docuemnts and business processes to XML. The only question is, "Which XML? OOXML, ODF or XHTML+".
The high fidelity conversion ratio and non disruptive OOXML plugin for MSOffice has certainly provided OOXML with the edge in this process. <br
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The Merging of SOA and Web 2.0: 3 - 0 views
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SOA is not about connecting things but, rather, enabling business processes and continual change. The goal is to allow users to build applications out of services, Bloomberg said. "We're really talking about service automation," Bloomberg said. "Service-oriented business applications [SOBAs] are composite applications [made up] of services that implement a business process."
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the SOA world is we're reaching the services tipping point—from a focus on building services to consuming services. This has given rise to the mashup. A mashup is a flexible composition of services within a rich user interface environment."
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"This is where the information assets and people productivity issues come together,"
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But does IBM have a stategy for SOA that includes Lotus Notes? Or will the MS Exchange/SharePoint OOXML juggernaut knock out the enterprise collaboration king?
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Quible Correction -- garyedwards@...'s comment on "Microsoft: We were railroaded in Mas... - 0 views
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Microsoft was invited, and did join the OASIS Open Office XML File Format TC as a founding member with observer status. Although the name of the TC was changed in September of 2004 (at the request of the EU) to "OpenDocument", Microsoft remains a member with observer status. All that need be done to convert their status from observer to voting member is to notify the TC Chairman of your intentions, show up for two consecutive phone conferences, and you are a voting member. It's that simple.
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This is part of a series of talkback responses i had made to a ZDNet article, "Microsoft: We were railroaded in Massachusetts on ODF". Andy Updegrove participated in this exchange.
My comment was picked up by the Heise in a FSF Free Software Foundation Europe article, "The Converter Hoax".
~ge~
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Real World Government Open Source - Bill Welty and Government OSS Technology - 0 views
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Welty gave a rapid-fire look at the realities of open source in government. "The doors have been blown open in California," he said. "In 2004 when Governor Schwarzenegger signed the California Performance Review a section called State Operations #10 specifically authorized the use of open source." Operations #10 says: "Departments should take an inventory of software purchases and software renewals in the Fiscal Year 2004-2005 and implement open source alternatives where feasible."
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If there is an Open Source hero in government, it's Bill Welty. This article pulished in Government Technology covers the GOSCON 2006 conference where Bill spoke to the realities of open source software in government. Bill will also be speaking at the October 2007 GOSCON Conference in Portland Oregon. He doesn't pull his punches :) Even with Microsoft, IBM, Novell, and Sun sitting across the table.
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The Interoperability Wars :: ODF vs. OOXML - 0 views
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This discussion is part of a much larger response to a series of questions from a LiNUX magazine in India. The mighty Marbux helped answer the questions, so please don't mistake his eloquence for my customary thundering.
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