Links 12.13.2006
Some interesting links from the past few days:
File Formats
Why China's UOF is good - O'Reilly XML Blog
Very interesting post from Rick Jelliffe about how there are often needs for multiple formats, in order to properly meet the needs of the industry.
"Standardization is about the consolidation of variety: the reduction of variety is the means not the ends; but the total reduction of variety is not really a necesary means or a worthwhile ends."
Open Document Format (ODF) Accessibility Evaluator
Cool tool for scanning ODF documents looking for a set of criteria that helps determine how accessible the documents are. It would be really cool to see a similar tool built for Open XML.
I love these types of tools that show the power you can get from an open format. We have some examples that do similar things looking for what we call PII (personally identifiable information). It basically scans looking for XML that represents deletions, comments, hidden text, etc. and automatically strips it out.
Palimpsest: XML 2006: The ODF Plugin for MS Office
This was an interesting blog post from someone who attended a presentation that was made at the XML conference last week by one of the guys from the OpenDocument Foundation. It sounds like this may be where the whole "war of the file formats" is coming from :-). Even more interesting was that he actually compared it to Star Wars:
"Having said that, the presenter just compared the document debate to Star Wars...with an empire and forces of light. He left it to the attendee to figure out whether Microsoft or the OpenDocument Foundation represents the Empire."
Open XML (Ecma 376)
Wouter van Vugt : Paris and back again
Wouter van Vugt discusses the Open XML sessions in Paris.
[Open XML] GOAAAAL ! Open XML devient un standard de l'ECMA , Blog de Neodante (Julien Chable)
A French blog discussing the standardization of the Open XML formats.
Doug Mahugh : Images in Open XML documents
Doug goes into more details around working with images inside of Open XML documents.
Doug Mahugh : Open XML in Estonia
"It's great to see so many young developers working with Open XML. I've met several college students in recent weeks who are already working with Open XML, and some even as young as high school (hi Antoine). It will be fun to see what kinds of creative Open XML applications this new generation of developers comes up with in the months and years ahead."
Novell & Microsoft
Technology Decision Makers Upbeat About Microsoft-Novell Deal
Coverage on the Microsoft-Novell deal from a bit of a different angle.
Stop bashing the Novell / Microsoft agreement | John Carroll | ZDNet.com