Hello all,
Are the marketing lists working? I haven't seen much activity lately.
In any event, Gary Edwards just asked me to forward this email. It's
very important, and may well be the most important task for the
marketing project yet.
In summary, it is an update on the status of OpenDocument, and then
calls for the Marketing Project to:
* Create a logo for OpenDocument (yes, really; though with coordination
with KOffice, and ideally IBM, Novell and others). This is why I'm also
sending this email to the art list.
* Work towards establishing best practices for logo use, conformance
testing, and, compliance guidelines. Gary does not ask that MP actually
become a compliance testing centre. But he makes other suggestions worth
reading. For example, creating a compliance watch group that would try
to locate possible compliance violatons and forward those to the OASIS
Technical Committee.
Cheers,
Daniel.
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: OpenDocument Challenges
Date: Thu, 05 May 2005 18:45:45 -0700
From: Gary Edwards <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: Daniel Carrera <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Hi Marketing,
If you would be so kind, could the marketing group consider some
concerns based on recent events?
On Saturday, April 29^th , 2005, the OASIS membership voted to ratify
the OpenDocument v.1 XML File Format specification as an OASIS Open
Standard. There were no negative votes or negative comments cast (a
single no vote would have defeated the measure). The OpenDocument ballot
also recorded one of the highest affirmative efforts on record, only
slightly exceeded by the October 2004 ratio ratifying the OASIS UBL
(Universal Business Language) proposal. Clearly it's time to move our
attention towards the marketing and promotion of OpenDocument as a
universal XML file format for cross platform productivity environments.
OASIS administration has notified the OpenDocument TC that there will be
some promotion of the event. They do plan on a press release featuring
comments from corporate members who have submitted formal statements
validating the successful implementation of OpenDocument. Novell, IBM,
Sun, and Stellent have submitted validations, which were, by the way,
needed before OpenDocument could be put up for ratification vote.
I have no idea how OASIS is going to handle mention of the open source
communities OpenOffice.org and KOffice in their promotional release.
Since we lack corporate membership status, OASIS did notify us that our
statements of validation could not be used. Oh well.
The completion of ratification brings us to consideration of some
important issues which perhaps could be seen to fall under the broad
umbrella of "marketing". These include best practices for logo design
and reuse, compliance guidelines, and conformance testing.
There is increasingly clear consensus among OpenDocument TC (technical
committee) members that the TC should continue to focus on the technical
aspects of the specification, and seek other means of coordinating
OpenDocument marketing needs. Being both an open forum, and at the heart
of the OpenDocument universe, it would seem that the OOo Marketing Group
would be the perfect mechanism for coordinating efforts that would
involve many corporate partners and organizations certain to benefit by
increased market awareness of just how damn incredible OpenDocument
really is. Are you guys up for this?
There is quite a bit of history here. In October of 2004 Sam Hiser
submitted a request to the OpenDocument TC for advice on OASIS logo
creation and reuse. We in turn sought advice from OASIS administration.
Surprisingly, they like their logo just the way it is, and do allow
reuse as long as the logo isn't changed. LA Laker yellow gold and
squeamish purple is here to stay.
Since that time, the TC has met on a number of occasions with OASIS
Administration to discuss the issues of logo use, conformance testing,
and compliance guidelines. OASIS does have a marketing and conformance
effort underway, but since the plan is geared towards revenue
generation, this option was found by the OpenDocument TC to be
unsuitable. Such a plan would seriously limit or even preclude the
participation of open source communities. Nyet.
The issue remains though. And if we don't do something about compliance,
there's a chance that someone else will see an opportunity and take the
initiative. So while the OpenDocument TC lacks enforcement authority, we
do feel the need to take the initiative regarding marketing and
compliance. A number of alternative proposals have been discussed, but
as i said earlier, there is growing consensus around those ideas that
engage and rely on the OOo Marketing group.
Keep in mind that none of what follows is carved in stone. Just some
thoughts for discussion.
Logo & Marketing:
I guess the first marketing issue is that of a logo. My understanding is
that if "OASIS" is used with "OpenDocument", as in "OASIS OpenDocument",
then you have to comply with the OASIS look and feel restrictions.
That said, there are reasons to focus marketing efforts on
"OpenDocument" without the OASIS label.
Immediately following the OASIS ratification, the OpenDocument TC
undertook the task of submitting the specification to ISO, as the EU
asked us to do last September. Interestingly, ISO does not allow
labeling for marketing purposes. So maybe it makes sense to just market
"OpenDocument" as an Open Standard instead of an OASIS -- ISO standard?
Let me also mention as an aside that in the past few months i have
personally been engaged in a number of discussions with some prominent
OpenDocument partners and other OASIS delegates regarding the issue of
submitting OpenDocument to the W3C as a possible successor to HTML --
XHTML. One delegate has even offered to arrange the presentation to Sir
Tim, so it don't think the idea is as far fetched as it might at first
seem. Perhaps once there is a browser plug-in available, this suggestion
might make more sense though.
I'm hoping that the OOo Marketing Group will take the lead regarding the
logo effort, and reach out to the marketers at Novell, IBM Workplace,
Sun StarOffice, Stellent, and the KOffice community to come up with a
consensus as to how best move forward with a standardized OpenDocument
marketing logo. One of the things the TC has discussed is the need for a
highly recognizable logo that all vendors and service providers could
use that would provide the marketplace with instant recognition of
OpenDocument capabilities. Kind of like when you purchase a DVD player
from Best Buy, there is a string of easy to recognize logos on the front
of every item proclaiming which file formats the device supports.
One of the marketing problems that must be contended with is that,
outside of the few who have stepped forward and made a public
declaration, it gets murky as to does and who doesn't use OpenDocument.
The truth is that OpenDocument is being used by enterprises, systems
vendors, publication and content management providers of all sorts. It's
useful wherever the power of XML transformation is needed.
For instance, Oracle's Collaboration Suite is in compliance with
OpenDocument, but they declined for the moment to get involved with a
validation statement that might be used in OASIS marketing. And that's
after i personally pleaded with Su Lim (Oracle Marketing) and Jeremy
Chone (Oracle Open Source) to consider making a statement in support of
OpenDocument. Su was very much in favor of jumping in. Jeremy chooses to
play it safe. The long dark shadow of Redmond and all that. I don't know
where Red Hat, Linspire, Mandrake, Zope, Adobe, or SeeBeyond (just to
name a few) sit on this issue. Adobe has announced that they will be
working with IBM's Workplace, and we have been soliciting their
participation on the OpenDocument TC regarding enhancement of the
metadata component. With lots of response and little action. There's
lots of reason to remain hopeful though.
Compliance & Conformance:
This is a very complicated issue. A Pandora's box for sure. As you might
know, there are many vendors and service providers repackaging OOo
components for resale and distribution. For the most part, they are
perhaps all in "compliance". The list of service providers and vendors
pledged to build on IBM's Workplace is stunning. They would be in
compliance. And with the next version of KOffice set to go native with
OpenDocument, OpenDocument happy components might pop up anywhere there
is a QUtopia environment.
One suggestion that has come up is that OOo Marketing forms an open
market watch group that checks for logo implementation and compliance
with the specification. The market group would identify implementations,
and contact the owners for basic compliance information. The OASIS
OpenDocument TC would provide the market watch group with simplified
testing criteria designed to throw red flags based on general concerns.
Probably a simple import ~ export routine.
In the event of a red flag, the market watch group would forward the
issue to the OpenDocument TC for further study. If needed, the TC would
notify owners that a study is under way and that there might be some
concerns with compliance.
Lacking any kind of enforcement authority, a TC initiated finding of
"non compliance" would at best only trigger an explanation and request
that the vendor/owner consider suggestions as to how best remedy any
discrepancies, based on TC and OSS community comments. We might request
vendor marketing materials state something on the order of "OpenDocument
compliance certification pending". Once compliance is affirmed, one
would hope that vendors and service providers might come to value the
label "certified OpenDocument".
We have already seen the compliance issue raised in the EU. As early as
November of 2004, claims and accusations were being tossed about with
wild abandon. The fact that the OASIS OpenDocument standard has made
it's way into EU purchase cycle requirements is significant, but this is
just the beginning. Compliance is no longer an idle issue, and we need
to come up with an approach that works for OASIS and, the many future
users of the OpenDocument file format specification. Maybe the EU
TAC/IDA task force has a methodology in place for compliance testing?
That would make for an interesting place to start tackling this issue.
So in summary, post ratification of OpenDocument as an OASIS Open
Standard, there are three marketing issues that need attention. They are
best practices for logo use, conformance testing, and, compliance
guidelines. Your thoughts and suggestions are most appreciated. I will
be monitoring the gmane OOo marketing news list for comments.
~ge~
Gary Edwards
OpenStack Business Systems
[EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
(650) 365-0899
(650) 888-2268 c.
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