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Subject: Interoperability and Conformance TC formation proposal (0.4) -- ProposedFinal Text
Here is (hopefully) the final draft of the proposed OIC charter. I've taken it through the internal IBM review process, so Don and I can now officially add our names to the list of supporters. Changes I've made to prepare this version: 1) I've removed all of my editorial comments, which were previously in square brackets 2) On question 2b, we were required to state the date of the first meeting. The requirement, for a first meeting by telephone, is no less than 30 days after the TC formation announcement goes out. Since that date is not known with precision, I've stated we would have our first meeting "30-35 days after the announcement of formation of this TC." Hopefully OASIS will allow us to refine this once the announcement date is certain. 3) Item 1 in our Scope of Work, dealing with the periodic review of the "State of Interoperability" could be read as conflicting with our prohibition against "Acting as a rating or certifying authority or agency. So, I've inserted some clarifying language in item 1 of the Scope of Work, giving us: "Initially and periodically thereafter, to review the current state of conformance and interoperability among a number of ODF implementations; To produce reports on overall trends in conformance and interoperability that note areas of accomplishment as well as areas needing improvement, and to recommend prioritized activities for advancing the state of conformance and interoperability among ODF implementations in general without identifying or commenting on particular implementations;" 4) In "Similar work" (question 2a) I've added a mention of the recent interop paper by Shah and Kesan. This was a request from Dennis Hamilton on the oiic formation discussion list. I think this is ready to submit. But do let me know if there is some glaring error. Otherwise, now is the time for members to let me know that this charter meets their approval, so I can add your names to the list of supporters. -Rob =================================================== TC formation proposal 1a. Name OASIS OpenDocument Format Interoperability and Conformance Technical Committee (OIC TC) 1b. Statement of Purpose The OpenDocument Format for Office Applications (OpenDocument) OASIS Standard defines an XML schema for office applications and its semantics. The schema is suitable for office documents, including text documents, spreadsheets, charts and graphical documents like drawings or presentations, but is not restricted to these kinds of documents. There are several commercial and open source applications available based on the OpenDocument Format, with more currently under development. With the depth and breadth of functionality specified by ODF, achieving conformance and interoperability requires attention to numerous details and diverse requirements. It is the purpose of the OIC TC to produce materials and host events that will help implementors create applications which conform the ODF standard and which are able to interoperate. 1c. Scope of Work In accordance with the OIC TC's purpose, the scope of our work will include the following activities: 1. Initially and periodically thereafter, to review the current state of conformance and interoperability among a number of ODF implementations; To produce reports on overall trends in conformance and interoperability that note areas of accomplishment as well as areas needing improvement, and to recommend prioritized activities for advancing the state of conformance and interoperability among ODF implementations in general without identifying or commenting on particular implementations; 2.To collect the provisions of the ODF standard, and of standards normatively referenced by the ODF standard, and to produce a comprehensive conformity assessment methodology specification which enumerates all collected provisions, as well as specific actions recommended to test each provision, including definition of preconditions, expected results, scoring and reporting; 3.To select a corpus of ODF interoperability test documents, such documents to be created the OIC TC, or received as member or public contributions; To publish the ODF interoperability test corpus and promote its use in interoperability workshops and similar events; 4.To define profiles of ODF which will increase interoperability among implementations in the same vertical domain, for example, ODF/A for archiving; 5.To define profiles of ODF which will increase interoperability among implementations in the same horizontal domain, for example ODF Mobile for pervasive devices, or ODF Web for browser-based editors. 6.To provide feedback, where necessary, to the ODF TC on changes to ODF that might improve interoperability; 7.To coordinate, in conjunction with the ODF Adoption TC, Interop Workshops and OASIS InterOp demos related to ODF; 8.To liaise on conformance and interoperability topics with other TC's and bodies whose work is leveraged in present or future ODF specifications, and with committees dealing with conformance and interoperability in general. The following activities are explicitly not within the Scope of the OIC TC: 1.Acting as a rating or certifying authority or agency for conformance of particular ODF implementations; 2.Authoring or distributing software that tests the conformance or interoperability of ODF implementations; 1d. List of Deliverables 1.Initial report on the state of ODF conformance and interoperability (March 1st, 2009); 2.Report on the best practices on profiles and recommendations on possible ODF-related profiles (April 1st, 2009); 3.A conformity assessment methodology specification, detailing how each provision and recommendation in the ODF standard may be tested for conformance (May 1st, 2009); 4.Interoperability test corpus documents, released in batches, according to functional area (several incremental deliverables, Q4 2008 through 2009) 1e. IPR Mode This TC will operate under the "RF on Limited Terms" mode 1f. Audience The direct audience of the OIC TC's work will be: 1.Implementors -- Commercial and Open Source publishers of ODF native or compatible applications and tools. 2.Testers -- Third-party testing and certification labs. 3.Procurers -- Those who purchase or define requirements for the purchase of ODF-related technology. 4.Regulators -- Officials who specify the use of document standards. Other, indirect users of the TC's work may include: 1.Integrators -- Third-party developers and independent software vendors who interact with and/or integrate ODF. 2.Users -- End Users of ODF applications and tools, including both typical and "power" users. 1g. Language of the TC TC business will be conducted in English. 2. Informative information 2a. Similar work We note the work of Lotzi Bölöni at the University of Central Florida and his initial work in defining an ODF "test suite", work now maintained by the Open Document Fellowship: http://develop.opendocumentfellowship.com/testsuite/ We also note that the work of the OASIS Test Assertions Guidelines (TAG) TC may be of use to us in defining test cases: http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/tc_home.php?wg_abbrev=tag Sun Microsystems has has also done some work related to ODF conformance testing: http://blogs.sun.com/GullFOSS/entry/openoffice_org_odf_validation_service We note that the W3C has test suite work efforts pertaining so several of the standards which ODF references, including MathML and XForms. We would expect to consult with them on any overlapping topics. We also note the work of Rajiv Shah and Jay Kesan, "Lost in Translation: Interoperability Issues for Open Standards - ODF and OOXML as Examples?, The Proceedings of the 36th Research Conference on Communication, Information and Internet Policy (TPRC), Arlington, VA, Sept.26-28, 2008, available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1201708 This work, its references, and similar comparisons among ODF implementations as well as translation efforts may inform the TC's initial approach to surveying the current state of ODF conformance and interoperability and determining priorities for the development of conformity assessment methodology specifications. Finally we observe that the OASIS ODF TC owns the ODF standard, including the definition of conformance for ODF. The OIC TC's work does not overlap, since our scope would not including defining conformance for ODF, but defining test cases (preconditions, specific test actions, expected results) that are traceable to the provisions of the ODF standard and referenced standards. 2b. First meeting. The initial meeting will be by telephone, hosted by IBM, and will occur 30-35 days after the announcement of formation of this TC. 2c. Meeting schedule We anticipate meeting, by teleconference, initially every week as we prepare for an interoperability workshop in November, and then reverting to a normal alternate week meeting schedule 2d. Minimum membership who support this proposal. 1. Robert Weir / IBM 2. Don Harbison / IBM 2e. Convener: Robert Weir/ IBM 2f. Member section affiliation: None 2g. (optional) Contributions: None 2h (optional) FAQ's: N/A 2i (optional) Working titles and acronyms for specifications: None.
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