ConsortiumInfo.org - Putting the OpenDocument Foundation to Bed (without its supper)

Interesting snapshot of a growing controversy about the utility of OpenDocument Format, which is not 1:1 with (or even closely aligned with, at this point) the OpenDocument Foundation.

So what is this CDF, and should it be considered to be an alternative to ODF? Here's what Chris Lilley had to say, reconstructed from my notes (in other words, this is not a direct quote):

So we were in a meeting when these articles about the Foundation and CDF started to appear, and we were really puzzled. CDF isn't anything like ODF at all – it's an "interoperability agreement," mainly focused on two other specifications - XHTML and SVG. You'd need to use another W3C specification, called Web Interactive Compound Document (WICD, pronounced "wicked"), for exporting, and even then you could only view, and not edit the output.

The one thing I'd really want your readers to know is that CDF (even together with WICD) was not created to be, and isn't suitable for use, as an office format.

I'm currently working on a Burton Group research document on ODF, Open XML, and related topics, and will share some perspectives in a few weeks.

ConsortiumInfo.org - Putting the OpenDocument Foundation to Bed (without its supper)