content/editorial/newsletter5.html - openoffice-org - Git at Google

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 <h2>Newsletter #5</h2>

 <p><a href="../lspintro.html">Louis Su&aacute;rez-Potts</a></p>
 <p>2002 April 21</p>
 <br>

 <p> Apologies for the neglect and delay in getting this Number Five out! As many
   of you might know, we've been rather busy arranging things for the upcoming
   release of OpenOffice.org 1.0. For me, the work has included tabulating the
   vote (still ongoing; if you want results faster, help me), and making sure that
   the homepage and download page are actually intelligible to the uninitiated.</p>

 <p>But the advent of 1.0 is not the only thing that has been involving the OpenOffice.org
   community. We have just finished moving the Marketing Project to its new home
   (<a href="http://marketing.openoffice.org/index.html">http://marketing.openoffice.org/</a>),
   creating the new lang projects (see <a href="http://lang.openoffice.org/index.html">http://lang.openoffice.org/</a>
   for updates), and renewing the <a href="http://website.openoffice.org/index.html">Website
   Project.</a> </p>
 <p> As the name suggests, the Website project concerns itself with the "look"
   and architecture of OpenOffice.org. Our mandate now is to improve these important
   features. As many of you are aware, the site navigates poorly (think: labyrinth)
   and seems designed to convince you that you need reading glasses. Well, we'd
   like to fix these issues. If you are remotely talented with CSS, HTML, or have
   a good sense of what you think needs fixing and know how (or are willing to
   learn), please join the project and mailing list. You can subscribe from the
   project homepage, <a href="http://website.openoffice.org/index.html">http://website.openoffice.org/</a>)
 </p>


 <p>To me, it's obvious that OpenOffice.org is right now undergoing an explosion
   of activity, much of it sponsored by users who want to add to the project and
   who want to further OpenOffice.org's global availability. But, complementing
   the enduser activity, the technical projects have also being seeing a surge
   of work. I would like in particular to point attention to the XML project (<a href="http://xml.openoffice.org/index.html">http://xml.openoffice.org</a>).
 <p>What does the XML Project do? Lead by Michael Bauer, the project "contains
   support for and implementation of the XML based file format"; and its mission
   is "to create an open and ubiquitous XML-based file format for office documents
   and to provide an open reference implementation for this format." Why is this
   important? Let's put it this way: One of the things that makes OpenOffice.org
   product distinct and flexible is its XML-based file format. This means that
   it can work well with other XML-ready applications and it means that it is far
   abler to take advantage of the global swing to XML than other office suites
   (yes, <i>that</i> one).
 <p>

 <p>To give an idea of just how flexible XML makes OpenOffice.org, here are the
   core goals, as listed on the XML homepage:
 <ol>
 	<li>The file format should be developed in such a way that it will be accepted by the community and can be placed under community control for future development and format evolution. </li>
 	<li>The file formats should be suitable for all office types: text processing, spreadsheet, presentation, drawing, charting, and math. </li>
 	<li>The file formats should reuse portions of each other as much as possible (so for example a spreadsheet table definition can work also as a text processing table definition). </li>
 </ol>

 If you have more question, you may want to start with the XML FAQS, <a href="http://xml.openoffice.org/faq.html">http://xml.openoffice.org/faq.html</a>.<p></p>

 <p>Of course, As with any developer-centric project, most of the work takes place
   in the mailing list, and the XML list is persistently one of the more active
   developer lists. To view archives, please go to <a href="http://xml.openoffice.org/servlets/SummarizeList?listName=dev">http://xml.openoffice.org/servlets/SummarizeList?listName=dev</a>.
 <hr>
 <p><a href="spotlightindex.html">Previous Newsletters</a>
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	<meta HTTP-EQUIV="content-type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
	</head>
	<body>
	<h2>Newsletter #5</h2>

	<p><a href="../lspintro.html">Louis Suárez-Potts</a></p>
	<p>2002 April 21</p>
	<br>

	<p> Apologies for the neglect and delay in getting this Number Five out! As many
	of you might know, we've been rather busy arranging things for the upcoming
	release of OpenOffice.org 1.0. For me, the work has included tabulating the
	vote (still ongoing; if you want results faster, help me), and making sure that
	the homepage and download page are actually intelligible to the uninitiated.</p>

	<p>But the advent of 1.0 is not the only thing that has been involving the OpenOffice.org
	community. We have just finished moving the Marketing Project to its new home
	(<a href="http://marketing.openoffice.org/index.html">http://marketing.openoffice.org/</a>),
	creating the new lang projects (see <a href="http://lang.openoffice.org/index.html">http://lang.openoffice.org/</a>
	for updates), and renewing the <a href="http://website.openoffice.org/index.html">Website
	Project.</a> </p>
	<p> As the name suggests, the Website project concerns itself with the "look"
	and architecture of OpenOffice.org. Our mandate now is to improve these important
	features. As many of you are aware, the site navigates poorly (think: labyrinth)
	and seems designed to convince you that you need reading glasses. Well, we'd
	like to fix these issues. If you are remotely talented with CSS, HTML, or have
	a good sense of what you think needs fixing and know how (or are willing to
	learn), please join the project and mailing list. You can subscribe from the
	project homepage, <a href="http://website.openoffice.org/index.html">http://website.openoffice.org/</a>)
	</p>



	<p>To me, it's obvious that OpenOffice.org is right now undergoing an explosion
	of activity, much of it sponsored by users who want to add to the project and
	who want to further OpenOffice.org's global availability. But, complementing
	the enduser activity, the technical projects have also being seeing a surge
	of work. I would like in particular to point attention to the XML project (<a href="http://xml.openoffice.org/index.html">http://xml.openoffice.org</a>).
	<p>What does the XML Project do? Lead by Michael Bauer, the project "contains
	support for and implementation of the XML based file format"; and its mission
	is "to create an open and ubiquitous XML-based file format for office documents
	and to provide an open reference implementation for this format." Why is this
	important? Let's put it this way: One of the things that makes OpenOffice.org
	product distinct and flexible is its XML-based file format. This means that
	it can work well with other XML-ready applications and it means that it is far
	abler to take advantage of the global swing to XML than other office suites
	(yes, <i>that</i> one).
	<p>

	<p>To give an idea of just how flexible XML makes OpenOffice.org, here are the
	core goals, as listed on the XML homepage:
	<ol>
	<li>The file format should be developed in such a way that it will be accepted by the community and can be placed under community control for future development and format evolution. </li>
	<li>The file formats should be suitable for all office types: text processing, spreadsheet, presentation, drawing, charting, and math. </li>
	<li>The file formats should reuse portions of each other as much as possible (so for example a spreadsheet table definition can work also as a text processing table definition). </li>
	</ol>

	If you have more question, you may want to start with the XML FAQS, <a href="http://xml.openoffice.org/faq.html">http://xml.openoffice.org/faq.html</a>.<p></p>

	<p>Of course, As with any developer-centric project, most of the work takes place
	in the mailing list, and the XML list is persistently one of the more active
	developer lists. To view archives, please go to <a href="http://xml.openoffice.org/servlets/SummarizeList?listName=dev">http://xml.openoffice.org/servlets/SummarizeList?listName=dev</a>.
	<hr>
	<p><a href="spotlightindex.html">Previous Newsletters</a>
	</body>
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