Hi Jonathan,

> So we should continue to pursue this as part of the ODF 3.0 or Interop
> committees so that we can "break" things (if necessary) for consistency
> in a controlled fashion.
>
> For the time being, though, I'll be implementing the alternate XML
> namespace approach.

Just talked with Michael Brauer, the chair of the ODF TC.

According to him, the current status of the proposal [1] is not that it
has been rejected. Instead, the proposal was presented, and founded with
Accessibility arguments, which were not convincing to some TC members.

(In fact, the proposal at the moment still claims that the attribute
will help accessibility, since no possibility for grouping exists in
current ODF - both is plain wrong.)

However, there has neither been a vote on the proposal (so it is not
rejected), nor has Florian continued to present / argue for it.


Since you and Florian are listed as the proposal owners, I suggest you
should re-submit it (or however it is properly called when you continue
discussing it, instead of just not talking about it anymore in the TC
calls). There's too much uncertainty about whether or not the TC would
really accept the proposal - you mentioned multiple times you do not
know yourself if/why it was rejected -, that I think you should continue
arguing for it in the official channel - in the TC -, until we can be
sure that it is accepted or rejected.


One point which I think can help (and which I in fact think is a good
reason *not* to go for the interop-namespace until the proposal has been
officially rejected by TC, if that really ever happens): Microsoft is a
member of the TC, too. That is, assuming that they have an interest in
ODF (why else should they be a TC member, right?), they should be able
and willing to support the proposal - finally, its deeper purpose is
exactly to mirror a feature which is present in MS' applications for
quite a while.
So, either this feature does make sense (which I think it does), then MS
should be able to help arguing the reason. Or it doesn't make sense, but
is some kind of legacy feature - in this case (and this would be the
outcome I would not like) one could argue that OOo does also not need it.


So, in short: I think before going for any non-ODF-compliant extensions
to the file format, I think you guys should drive the proposal, until
the point where it either has been accepted, or rejected.

I know that this committee work is more difficult than just hacking, and
indeed it's nothing I begrudge you - but I think it's the better way.

Ciao
Frank

[1] http://wiki.oasis-open.org/office/Grouping_for_Radio_Elements


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