--- Arthur Pemberton [email protected] wrote:
Have you guys seen this? http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/10/30/2113200
As a couple of Slashdot responders correctly point out, the "OpenDocument Foundation" is one tiny organization with a name that is way too big for its britches, and hardly any bite with its bark.
===================================== One responder states: =====================================
""The OpenDocument Foundation", in spite of its name, is nothing. They are not the "official" foundation backing ODF. They are just two guys, with a good name and without a garage, which used to develop a OOXML ODF converter. Read this for more information: Cracks in the Foundation [robweir.com]."
http://www.robweir.com/blog/2007/10/cracks-in-foundation.html (http://tinyurl.com/35qge9)
===================================== And another responder clarifies it even more: =====================================
Actually, it's just three guys: http://opendocumentfoundation.us/we.htm
Not much of a foundation.
The *real* ODF group is: http://www.odfalliance.org/memberlist.php [odfalliance.org]
I think that the only honest thing the "The OpenDocument Foundation" can do is rename itself "The Compound Documents Format Foundation", since to do otherwise would be as deceitful as Microsoft choosing to name OOXML "Office Open XML". But honestly, I doubt they will. Their comparison chart between CDF and ODF betrays a few lies:
http://opendocument.foundation.googlepages.com/GOSCON_Chart.pdf [googlepages.com] (http://tinyurl.com/2kxf7t)
In particular:
* CDF is not OOXML compatible, nor has any implementation shown this to be possible. ODF at least has a not-100% compatible conversion. * ODF has a lot more big vendor support than CDF * Neither are universal formats, but ODF is supported by more vendors and software projects at the moment.
Personally, I think that the reasons for "The OpenDocument Foundation" changing it's support from ODF to CDF is self-interest. When ODF was first introduced, there was money to be made for a small company to write MS Office/Corel Office/Mac Office plugins and other conversion services. But then Sun and others started offering free converters and conversion services. There's just too much competition too quickly
CDF, OTOH is not as well supported universally, so there's a lot more room for a small company. And if the CDF growth rate is slow, the "The OpenDocument Foundation" has the chance to become *the CDF conversion experts* and make a lot of money. Also, since CDF (if you believe their claims) is more web oriented, it would be good for transactional converters of many types that need to be used for each message. With ODF, you convert your document once and don't have to worry about going back (by purpose....ODF is best for documents that have to be read, as is 100 years from now). The difference in profit between one-time business and licensed per transaction business could huge, even if CDF has a smaller market.
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