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Off to London

Well, I’m off to the next Ecma TC45 face to face meeting where we’ll continue to make progress in the Open XML format standardization effort. This time we’re meeting out in London. Adam Farquhar of the British Library is the Vice-Chair of TC45, and he’s been gracious enough to host the meeting. It will be really great having this event at the British Library were so many invaluable documents are preserved.  Makes you really think about true long term interoperability and longevity of file formats.

It’s been a few years since I’ve been out to the U.K. but unfortunately this trip will have to be all business. I’m not able to bring my wife with me this time so I'm aiming to get back home as soon as I can. I’ll try to blog while I’m out there in London, but I’m not sure how often I’ll actually be online.

-Brian

Published Monday, April 17, 2006 7:47 AM by BrianJones
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Comments

Tuesday, April 18, 2006 6:07 AM by janny

# re: Off to London

Great going Brian!!! I am wishing u all the success in the Open XML.
Wow! British Library. What a meeting place.
Hoping this visit to London will generate good output. Get back soon with your wife.
All the best for this great event. May u get what u want in life
Bye bye. Will catch u later
Friday, April 21, 2006 6:23 AM by pete

# re: Off to London

Might come there and make some noise.. and kick your ass back out of the UK ASAP

Just adopt ODF and everythign will be cool..
Friday, April 21, 2006 8:05 AM by James Susanka

# re: Off to London

"t will be really great having this event at the British Library were so many invaluable documents are preserved.  Makes you really think about true long term interoperability and longevity of file formats."

yes it does and that is why it makes the citizens of the world nervous to have a format standard controlled by one company like yours - it makes us consider the logentivity of your company.
Friday, April 21, 2006 10:10 AM by Vidar Bauge

# re: Off to London

I have 3 questions regarding the Open XML Formats:
1. When Open XML Formats has been approved as an ECMA standard, will it the (legal) terms of implementation/distribution allow that the formats are used in an application licensed under GNU/GPL?

2. If the answer i "yes" to the first question, will the same conditions apply to later versions of Open XML Formats?

3. Why not use Oasis Open Document and let the industry collaborate on one common standard?

Sincerely
Vidar Jon Bauge
Thursday, April 27, 2006 10:36 AM by BrianJones

# re: Off to London

Hey pete, sorry we weren't able to meet up :-)

James, not sure if you are aware of the process, but the formats are actually now owned and controled by Ecma International. One of the big reasons for doing the standardization work was to give everyone more confidence in the longevity of the formats, reguardless of the longevity of Microsoft.

Vidar, I've had a number of posts that discuss why the ODF format would not have met the needs of our customers. The Open XML formats have been around and evolving for quite some time (before Oasis Open Document). I've talked with a number of folks in the open source community who are really pleased with the switch we made from the royalty free license, to the more simple and broad CNS.

-Brian

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