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OpenDocument Foundation Closes
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.'"
Oh come on, you were all thinking it.
This really does sound fishy to me... Especially since (last I checked) Microsoft was a large part of W3C?
But it was in .docx format, so no one is able to open it.
this story is just BEGGING to be tagged "thanksforallthefish"
Monstar L
We don't need any official-sounding non-organizations spreading (F)UD.
-- Cheers!
This sounds like someone forgot what they were there for, then gave up once they realized their issues.
It's ok to say "we messed up" and call a mulligan. Right guys?
Karma Whoring for Fun and Profit.
[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
As was said in the last story, the OpenDocument Foundation has no official status -- it was merely a group founded by a few guys who have changed their minds about OpenDocument (whether they were paid to do so or not, no one knows). The closure of the Foundation has no impact, other than the ability for OOXML supporters to spread FUD headlines like this.
For what it's worth to you, it's been known for some time that the Open Document Foundation doesn't represent any actual source of authority vis-a-vis ODF - nobody's really sure what the organization was for to begin with. More info in this (oft-linked) blog entry.
(rot13) rpbzbab@tznvy.pbz
Editing PDFs is hard.
I should know better than to feed the trolls but you do know these guys are not responsible for Open Document and have no official status. They were more or less a fan club. Redmond is the most likely culprit in this case so the addage NEVER... NEVER trust Redmond would be appropriate. This isn't even substantial news to the open source world and won't impact anything in it.
Well that might be because people want to be able to edit the document later. Just a thought.
je suis parce que j'aime
The Republican Party released a similar piece saying the party was unsuitable for use in a Democracy. "We wish all the good luck too our Democratic colleagues in sustaining the intent of the US Constitution."
Someone else (who isn't busy like me ;-) ) should form another organization by the same name then
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.
Where are we going and why are we in a handbasket?
http://incompetech.com/gallimaufry/care_less.html
And opendocumentcommunity (.org, .net, .com) domains are vacant. Quickly, choose one and spread FUD!! XD
The "Open Document Foundation" is and was never a crucial part of anything. The Open Document Format was developed by OASIS - see http://docs.oasis-open.org/office/v1.1/OS/OpenDocument-v1.1-html/OpenDocument-v1.1.html/.
This is an excellent precedent. Maybe the Alexis de Tocqueville Institution will follow their lead.
Oh God, if we add Microsoft's smug with the smug from all the hybrid drivers and the smug from George Clooney's Oscar acceptance speech then we're really in the shit.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
Feh. Save in UTF-8 Unicode text format and typeset in whatever presentation format you need.
Word processor formats are the computer version of toilet paper. You dont use it for longterm retention of important information.
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
Why is this still making news, it has already been found out that the OpenDocument Foundation, Inc. has nothing to do with the OpenDocument Alliance...the real organisation behind ODF; so I ask again why this is still making news?!
Michael
http://s1.sfgame.us/index.php?rec=58163
because it is NOT this ODF (the ISO standard (almost?), by OASIS) everyone knows about. Just some stupid group of people with same name.
#
#\ @ ? Colonize Mars
#
That links to the foundation's website and is also shut down.
:v)
Vik
The Dailt Show explains all about this.
GLaDOS for President 2016! "Well here we are again. It's always such a pleasure." -- GLaDOS, 2011
...I just made a new organisation called the Open Document Format Gathering and we are now closing because ODF sucks / whatever.. now give me my Microsoft check...
Recently they tried to bribe their way to the Nigerians to get ahead of Mandriva. Then we hear of Blamer throwing chairs around the office yelling "I'm going to fucking kill Google", I really wouldn't put it above them trying to bribe this committee into submission.
In other words, when everything else fails, look for the money trail.
In all honesty, no matter how much I would care about some open standards, Linux, Linus, and so on (and I do care about those things), if Microsoft sent me a $100k check in exchange of not caring "as much" about open standards, I don't know if I would resist. (If I would resist, I probably wouldn't resist if they doubled the offer).
To me this "bribing conspiracy" makes sense. It would be pocket change for Microsoft and would quickly solve their problem (promoting OOXML). Not a bad business move on their part...
We already went over this, the open document foundation is just four guys in a garage with no real connection to the OpenDocument Format.
This news is pointless.
...and that is all I have to say about that.
http://jessta.id.au
I don't know why you'd be suspicious. Huge evil megacorp, known for bribery and corruption, is facing it's worst nightmare in the form of ODF. It's tried everything to get rid of it, and ODF is still slowly but surely progressing. Suddenly, one of the big organisations behind ODF declares that ODF is somehow a failure when it's on top, and then decides to blink out of existence altogether.
Nope. Nothing fishy there. I'm sure the OpenDoc Foundation just accidentally ate a ring of teleportation or something.
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. ;)
Maybe they're just really upset that Robert Weir from IBM was given co-chair status instead of one of them. After all they're in charge of a whole foundation.
Good to see them gone.
Unfortunately plain text stores no information about the organization of the text.
That's where you use DocBook for instance.
But average Joe nor even programmers understand the advantages of splitting the information , meta-information and presentation, therefore they all use Word for drafting their documents.
There is no text of import in this comment.
"You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows." - Bob Dylan
.txt as the new standard document format for everyone to use. My slogan is "It just works."
Microsoft give you money if you open a fan club?
A.I. Research. The peculiar science in which we know the question and we know the answer, but can't show the working
Leading several prominent Ziff Davis publications to report, "The Open Document Format has been abandoned, as its parent organization has closed its doors."
Goodbye and good riddance to the trolling trio and their self-serving vaporware specification.
Mir tut es leid, Menschen daß Einfältigfehlersuchenbaumfolgendenaffen sind.
In related news I have the pleasure of announcing that The Eric Conspiracy has commissioned a fully-owned subsidiary named "The Open Document Format Conspiracy" or ODFC. The ODFC has acquired all of the trademarks, intellectual property and desk accessories of the Open Document Foundation (not saying how) and will soon take over all of the rights, duties and responsibilities of the Open Document Foundation (if any exist).
Watch this space for future announcements, news, and requests for donations.
This is open source -- don't just gripe, make your criticism constructive.
Infuriate left and right
May contain traces of nut.
Made from the freshest electrons.
You mean you couldn't care less. If you say that you could care less, then it's clearly not at the bottom of your list of cares, or in other words, that you DO care about it.
these MS shills don't let the door hit them on their way out.
"Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife
Mod me up/Mod me down: I wont frown as I've no crown
Yeah, try that with an Excel document and get back to us... somehow I don't think that the autocalculation function would work :)
W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
I don't see what that has to do with editing the document... It's not the document that calculates stuff anyway :)
May contain traces of nut.
Made from the freshest electrons.
Open Source means that YOU should 'constructivicize' HIS criticism, with an added license that the next man can un-'constructivicize' it right behind your back again.
;)
A horse can't be sick, you know, even if he wants to.
Cute quote. Way to fire up the hordes. Your evidence is, exactly, what?
Oh, I see where your ideas could have come from. Going to share?
...popular usage and not by committee.
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....
Looks like they finally got a "cease and desist" letter for trademark infringement (the relevant TM being "Open Document"). That didn't take long. Good riddance.
--
Toro
Well what about the Popular Front?
RTFM
Slashdot is slow. I read this on Digg 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
Agreed. A year or 2's wages are pathetic compensation for living in a world controlled by Microsoft -.-
which is totally what she said
... sending them a text?
How open is that?
Don't blame me, it's usually 2 in the morning when I post
Actually, office document formats are essentially programming languages (or perhaps even something approaching a virtual machine specification) that are optimized for easy program generation by user tools.
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.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
It's a bit sad to see one ODF group close down, but at least we still have the ODF aalliance.
He doesn't care about them enough to precisely order them in his care list - he could care less ;)
Let's try Sam and Max for our rejoinder:
"No, I was right, I could care less, because I care even less about what you're saying right now."
Done with slashdot, done with nerds, getting a life.
OK, so that makes Windows, .DOC(X?), and MSIE the standards. We can all pack up and go home now.
The reason for standards committees is that de facto standards often suck for everyone except the people who invented them.
Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
Oops. The correct URL (without the superfluous trailing slash) is http://docs.oasis-open.org/office/v1.1/OS/OpenDocument-v1.1-html/OpenDocument-v1.1.html.
I'm sensing a business plan here, plug a free, alternate version of something M$ doesn't want to succeed until they show up to bribe you. It's remarkably similar to the old business plan of creating a startup with a product better than something M$ already offers and wait for them to buy you out and let your former company (now a div of microsoft) flounder and collapse.
[100% ISO 646 Compliant]
SVM, ERGO MONSTRO.
Cute quote. Way to fire up the hordes. Your evidence is, exactly, what?
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.
The enemies of Democracy are
Uh huh. Do you go to Rolling Stones concerts and shout: "You mean you can't get ANY satisfaction!!" ?
Bet you're a real hit at parties. :)
"Slow down, Cowboy! It has been 3 years, 7 months and 26 days since you last successfully posted a comment."
There's a difference between using slang and horribly butchering what you're saying to the extent that you're accidentally saying the exact opposite of what you mean.
I've noticed that a lot of Yanks have started the 'could care less' thing, so I thought I'd see how much thought process actually goes into it. Answer: zero.
And my point is, there's a time to criticize, and a time to just shake your head and let it slide!
"Slow down, Cowboy! It has been 3 years, 7 months and 26 days since you last successfully posted a comment."
Guess you missed how the ubuntu-based linux pc sold out in one week at Wallyworld ...
I would feel very fortunate that people who had the points appropriately moderated this.
So shake your head at me :)
Touché!
(I hope I'm using that right...) :)
"Slow down, Cowboy! It has been 3 years, 7 months and 26 days since you last successfully posted a comment."
Obviously a troll but might I point out that ODF is available in several software products and that this particular organisation closing up shop has nothing at all to do with the standard really, as it is still, well, a standard which is being actively worked on and implemented in various office suites. It's still growing strong.
And tired puns like "lunix" and "stallmanistas" is the reason political discourse in the US is in the mess it is now, but that might get a bit offtopic.