[OpenISO] Vision for OpenISO.org beyond MS-OOXML

[Norbert Bollow]

While I'm glad that the work on the "OpenISO.org Problem Report on
OOXML" is finally starting to go forward, I'm also thinking about
what contributions OpenISO.org should aim to make more generally.

Should OpenISO.org work only in the area of reviewing specifications
that are developed elsewhere, or is it appropriate to also take the
initiative and try developing specifications from scratch?

A successful protocol or data format specification needs a tight
design focus and a clear market need.

This reality makes "design by committee" highly problematic, because
the main engineering goal of protocol and data format design is to
provide the needed features while avoiding all needless complexity.
However incorporating everyone's ideas results in needless complexity.
On the other hand, in committee environments, not incorporating
everyone's ideas results in constant objections.

Consequently, most successful specifications today originate outside
the committees of standardization organizations.  That however is also
problematic because that means that they orginate outside of any
environment that requires up front commitments from participants to
not play nasty games with patents.

I really think that OpenISO.org could fill a gap by facilitating an
environment in which protocol and data format specification can happen
with a tight design focus and in view of specific market needs, while
at the same time ensuring that the important expectation of openness
of the process are not violated.

Specifications developed in this way under the OpenISO.org umbrella
would afterwards be submitted for broader review to the IETF and/or to
ISO/IEC JTC1 with the goals of further refinement and expanding the
community of adopters.

Greetings,
Norbert.


-- 
Norbert Bollow <nb at bollow.ch>                      http://Norbert.ch
President of the Swiss Internet User Group SIUG    http://SIUG.ch
Working on establishing a non-corrupt and
truly /open/ international standards organization  http://OpenISO.org