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OpenDocument Foundation Closes
Posted by
kdawson
on Sunday November 11, @02:41PM
from the to-bed-without-your-supper dept.
from the to-bed-without-your-supper dept.
Munchkinguy writes "First, they dropped support for their namesake OpenDocument Format and declared a switch to the W3C's 'Compound Document Format.' Then, W3C's Chris Lilley clarified that CDF 'was not created to be, and isn't suitable for use as, an office format.' Now, the Foundation has mysteriously closed up shop, leaving the following message: 'The OpenDocument Foundation, Inc. is closed. We sincerely wish our friends and associates in the OpenDocument Community all the best and much success going forward. Good-bye and good luck.'"
Related Stories
[+]
OpenDocument Foundation To Drop ODF 325 comments
poet sends us to Computerworld for a story on the intention of the OpenDocument Foundation to drop support for Open Document Format, OASIS and ISO standards not withstanding, in favor of the Compound Documents Format being promoted by the W3C. The foundation's director of business affairs, Sam Hiser, dropped this bomb in a blog posting a couple of weeks ago. Hiser believes CDF has a better shot at compatibility with Microsoft's OOXML, and says that the foundation has been disappointed with the direction of ODF over the last year.
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Microsoft shut them down (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Microsoft shut them down (Score:5, Informative)
(http://127.0.0.1/)
Another FUD bites the dust ... (Score:5, Funny)
(http://trolltalk.com/ | Last Journal: Sunday November 11, @07:43PM)
[chorus]
dum, dum, dum, another FUD bites the dust.
dum, dum, dum, another FUD bites the dust.
And another one gone, and another one gone,
another FUD bites the dust
Hey, I'm gonna see it on youtube
another FUD bites the dust
How do you think OpenDoc Foundations gonna get along
When the M$ bux are gone?
You got all the FUD that they could give,
And kicked them out when you were done.
Are you happy? Are you satisfied?
How long can M$ stand the heat?
Out of Redmond, the chairs do fly,
To the sound of the FUD beat [chorus]
dum, dum, dum, another FUD bites the dust.
dum, dum, dum, another FUD bites the dust.
And another one gone, and another one gone,
another FUD bites the dust
Hey, I'm gonna see it on youtube
another FUD bites the dust
Re:Microsoft shut them down (Score:5, Interesting)
On the assumption that these people are not entirely stupid:
1. If they were really working to break MS Office dominance, they would have realised by now that what they have said was completely stupid, and may have brought harm to the "cause", as the damages were amplified by clueless "journalists" and "analysts" (e.g. http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=875 [zdnet.com])
2. If they were MS stooges, the credibility required to carried out their work successfully was pretty much destroyed.
Nothing more to do in either case, to continue hanging onto the empty name of OpenDocument Foundation would be farcical on the same scale as Enderle or DiDio.
Fishy (Score:4, Interesting)
As fishy as a fishy fisherman's fishy bits (Score:5, Funny)
Nope. Nothing fishy there. I'm sure the OpenDoc Foundation just accidentally ate a ring of teleportation or something.
Re:As fishy as a fishy fisherman's fishy bits (Score:4, Insightful)
They released a formal statement.. (Score:5, Funny)
Look on the bright side (Score:5, Funny)
(http://slashdot.org???? | Last Journal: Saturday August 12 2006, @03:06AM)
rather tag it "!thisodf" (Score:5, Informative)
(Last Journal: Tuesday May 10 2005, @03:47PM)
Good riddance (Score:4, Interesting)
(http://www.tjerkstra.org/)
Say wha?? (Score:2)
It's ok to say "we messed up" and call a mulligan. Right guys?
Foundation has no official status (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Foundation has no official status (Score:5, Informative)
(http://rustyp.freeshell.org/ | Last Journal: Tuesday April 29 2003, @09:22AM)
The open document fellowship [opendocume...owship.com] are the community supporters (i.e., the ODF volunteer organization), while the ODF Alliance [odfalliance.org] are the industry supporters. What did the Open Document Foundation do? Muddy the waters.
They're the Ross Perot [wikipedia.org] of open document foundations - making people think that if they listen to them, that they'll get the real skinny because of their seeming-official status. Good to see 'em go.
Re:Foundation has no official status (Score:5, Funny)
(http://www.ictsc.com/ | Last Journal: Saturday December 09 2006, @10:15PM)
Brian:Are you the Open Document Foundation?
Reg: Fuck off!
Brian: What?
Reg: Open Document Foundation. We're the Open Document Alliance*! Open Document Foundation. Cawk.
Francis: Wankers.
Brian: Can I... join your group?
Reg: No. Piss off.
Brian: I didn't want to code this stuff. It's only a job. I hate closed source formats as much as anybody.
ODA: Shhhh. Shhhh. Shhh. Shh. Shhhh.
Reg: Schtum.
Judith: Are you sure?
Brian: Oh, dead sure. I hate closed source formats already.
Reg: Listen. If you really wanted to join the Open Document Alliance*, you'd have to really hate closed source formats.
Brian: I do!
Reg: Oh, yeah? How much?
Brian: A lot!
Reg: Right. You're in. Listen. The only thing we hate more than closed source formats are the fucking Open Document Foundation.
ODA: Yeah...
Judith: Splitters.
ODA: Splitters...
Francis: And the Popular Alliance for Open Documents.
ODA: Yeah. Oh, yeah. Splitters. Splitters...
Loretta: And the Open Document Alliance.
ODA: Yeah. Splitters. Splitters...
Reg: What?
Loretta: The Open Document Alliance*. Splitters.
Reg: We're the Open Document Alliance*!
Loretta: Oh. I thought we were the Open Document Group.
Reg: Open Document Alliance*!
Francis: Whatever happened to the Open Document Group, Reg?
Reg: He's over there.
ODA: Splitter!
* I Know its ODF Alliance but that doesn't work as well and this is, after all humour/satire.(Based on Movie "the Life of Brian")
Honestly, (Score:1, Offtopic)
Re:Honestly, (Score:4, Insightful)
(http://kamthaka.blogspot.com/ | Last Journal: Wednesday March 30 2005, @03:18PM)
In the case of word processor documents, the program renders something (unfortunately also called a document) on some kind of device, typically a printer (with various paper formats) and the screen. The difference between HTML with CSS and javascript, and something like MS Word doc format are: built in interfaces to other systems (e.g. compound documents in the case of word), services the underlying rendering platform is expected to provide, plus miscellaneous implementation choices (e.g. VBA vs. javascript). The differences in services provided (e.g. compound document linking and updating in the case of Word) reflect in part the practical differences in the target application domains. And these practicalities do matter, although as HTML matures it is becoming a more practical alternative (in my opinion) for many kinds of documents.
In the case of spreadsheets, they are also a "document" when we are talking about the standard in question, although they are also arguably special purpose programs. The main thing they have in common with "documents" of the prior type is that they are also expected to have graphical renderings.
So really, what we are talking about here are practical ways of achieving various things users need in the course of their work. There are always more than one way to get things done, and accordingly, users could make do with HTML or PDF for many tasks, particularly if they are provided with an editor. With CSS and javascript, there's an even stronger case to be made that there isn't any critical need for a "presentation" document format.
While such solutions would clearly be adequate, they are not necessarily optimal for everyone. For example, HTML does not provide change tracking and commenting capabilities, although this can be a blessing when interchanging documents.
In related news (Score:4, Funny)
Resurrect it then (Score:5, Interesting)
I suppose.
Anyone?
The worst that could happen is that M$ will pay you a bundle to close it down again.
At best you could shepherd a format that we sorely need promoted.
Choose opendocumentcommunity.org Quick! (Score:2, Funny)
And opendocumentcommunity (.org, .net, .com) domains are vacant. Quickly, choose one and spread FUD!! XD
Who cares? (Score:5, Informative)
Excellent precedent (Score:4, Interesting)
(http://billposer.org/)
This is an excellent precedent. Maybe the Alexis de Tocqueville Institution [wikipedia.org] will follow their lead.
Still Making News...? (Score:2, Insightful)
(http://www.godsoftime.com/?p=184405)
In other news.... (Score:5, Funny)
Pointless. (Score:2)
(http://www.jessta.id.au/)
This news is pointless.
Tit for Tat (Score:2)
Maybe I should found the OpenOffice XML Standardization Committee? Anyone interested in joining? Membership requires you prefer OOXML today, but plan to have a strong belief that ODF is superior to OOXML as per the announcement we'll make tomorrow. Don't worry, it won't take a lot of your time since we plan to dissolve in a week, and announce that to the tech press. ;)
Sour grapes? (Score:2)
Good to see them gone.
I'm nominating (Score:1)
This just in... (Score:2)
(http://lutherantheology.com/)
Goodbye and good riddance to the trolling trio and their self-serving vaporware specification.
Attention! Announcement! (Score:2)
Watch this space for future announcements, news, and requests for donations.
I hope (Score:2)
(http://slashdot.org/)
There was a time when a standard was made by.... (Score:3, Interesting)
(http://threeseas.net/ | Last Journal: Friday January 18 2002, @01:44PM)
Ah, so this is a statement that we are getting back to that.
We don't need a foundation. all we need is popular usage....
Smells like legal action (Score:2)
(Last Journal: Wednesday May 16 2007, @05:49AM)
--
Toro
From Digg (Score:1, Informative)
Slashdot is slow. I read this on Digg [digg.com] eleven days ago. Roy Schestowitz, the anti-Microsoft FUDmaster-in-Chief on Digg claimed that "the funding for a project run by the OpenDocument Foundation ended some time ago after very aggressive lobbying and bullying in Massachusetts. Microsoft had people thrown out of their job for 'daring' to stick to ODF. ... After the funding ended, the OpenDocument Foundation was glued to a corner, so the wise step to take was to turn somewhere else."
You can read more of Schestowitz' rants at Boycott Novell [boycottnovell.com]
Did anyone try ... (Score:1)
(Last Journal: Sunday October 14, @08:45AM)
How open is that?
Please read previous articles. (Score:5, Insightful)
(http://www.metapolity.org/)
Re:Now (Score:4, Informative)
(http://www.ganjablogger.com/ | Last Journal: Thursday January 05 2006, @05:36PM)
Re:Now (Score:4, Insightful)
(http://slashdot.org/)
I think the evidence made public during the anti-trust trial and conviction should be enough for anyone to have a healthy distrust of everything Redmond does, especially anything regarding openness or interoperability or anything else that threatens Microsoft's OS and office suite lock-in and thus their entire business model.
Obligatory South Park Reference (Score:2)
Also shut down (Score:2)
(http://olliver.family.gen.nz | Last Journal: Tuesday October 17 2006, @10:04PM)
Vik
Re:Is was not? (Score:2)
(http://powerlord.livejournal.com/)