I had a great chat with Doug this morning. What I learnt is that I need to
clarify and amplify some points related to UNO, OHS, and everything.
The original motivation: UNO is documented in terms of IDL (interface
description language), as is NODAL. That was my first clue that there
might be a fit. The second motivation is that OpenOffice offers tons of
really nice functionality that's there for the using, especially,
capability to work with legacy (read: MS Office) documents, and cross
platform power. That's a lot of stuff already there.
The idea expressed earlier was to replace OpenOffice legacy file system
with something along the lines of NODAL, and return legacy functionality in
terms of import/export functionality. Given that UNO has a COM bridge, we
might just be able to work directly with MS Office or com-compatible
software when desired.
The question is this: is there an "iFile", the intermediate form we have
been discussing in relation to HyperScope for a long time now? As I
understand it, Word has the iFile specification called RTF. Do we need one
now?
I do not know the answer to whether we need one. I do know that we need an
API that would serve the same or similar functionality to an iFile if
others are to write software to directly interoperate with us. Of course,
the indirect mode is that we export to Word, others read, write, etc, then
we import back. Another might be that, since UNO can talk COM, we just
become another COM object in the MS world. (Excuse me while I throw up).
A direct API that serves the functionality of an iFile, meaning it can
read/write an iFile if asked to do so, is the active research programme I
call Nexist. In that experiment, I am trying to see just how far I can
push XTM as an API (which, btw, just happens to be able to read and write
XTM files as well -- hence, one variant along the iFile theme). Thus far,
I have shoehorned IBIS into XTM. Next goals are to shoehorn DAML/OIL,
DocBook, and Augment in as well. There's a method to this madness: I am
thinking that if I just write XTM flat files, anybody that has an XTM
engine of one sort or another can read them, and others can just open them
in a text editor and browse them as desired. It's really hard to browse
RTF files in a text editor (did you ever try it?), but no problem at all to
browse XTM since it's plain vanilla verbose XML.
I am not selling Nexist as even a candidate for anything OHS-like at this
time. I am hoping that others will find a different, maybe even better
API. NODAL? Don't know yet. Nexist plans to use NODAL *inside* its XTM
wrapper. Maybe that will turn out to be overkill. Time will tell.
Cheers
Jack
At 06:40 AM 10/3/2001 -0700, you wrote:
>I will not be able to attend this meeting. However, I notice that there
>is an LGPL'd technology called UNO (Universal Network Object) in the
>project that appears really interesting, particularly in light of the
>possibility that NODAL might fit into that scheme as well. UNO forms
>bridges to COM, etc.
>
>I am thinking as follows: suppose that OpenOffice were to be a platform of
>choice (one of many) on which to develop the basis for an
>OHS/DKR/HyperScope. Suppose, then, that NODAL became its file system (as
>opposed to the present flat file arrangement), with full capability to
>export to and import from any format that OpenOffice presently handles,
>thus rendering OpenOffice into VirtualOpenOffice, one with "biceptual"
>capabilities.
>
>Now, therefore, for those of you who plan to attend, please gather all the
>information you can and report back here.
>
>Cheers
>Jack
>
>
>At 02:47 PM 9/28/2001 -0700, you wrote:
>>For those interested in OpenOffice...
>>
>>--
>>-- Grant Bowman <grantbow@svpal.org>
>>
>>
>>----- Forwarded message from Tom Geller <svlug@tgeller.com> -----
>>From: Tom Geller <svlug@tgeller.com>
>>To: svlug-announce@svlug.org
>>Subject: [svlug-announce] SVLUG meeting Wed, 3 October, 7 pm.: OpenOffice.org
>>Date: Thu, 27 Sep 2001 09:50:46 -0700
>>Message-id: <a0510030ab7d909387790@[66.120.90.130]>
>>Sender: svlug-announce-admin@svlug.org
>>
>>We're pleased to announce the next meeting of SVLUG, this coming Wednesday.
>>
>>WHEN:
>> Wednesday, 3 October, 7pm-9pm or so.
>>
>>WHO:
>> OpenOffice.org
>> <http://www.openoffice.org>
>> Max Lanfranconi, Senior Product Manager for Openoffice.org
>> (Sun Microsystems)
>>
>>ABOUT:
>> Office productivity suite OpenOffice.org represents the
>> largest Open Source project, with more than 7.5 million
>> lines of code. Topics will include:
>> * Infrastructure requirements and current implementation
>> (Collab.net, Akamai, mailing list, projects, Issuezilla)
>> * OpenOffice.org and StarOffice: two different approaches to
>> an individual productivity suite for Linux
>> * OpenOffice.org: a technical pitch (Rationale, History,
>> data, architecture, tools needed and so forth)
>>
>>MORE ABOUT THE SPEAKER:
>> Max Lanfranconi is Senior Product Manager for Openoffice.org
>> at Sun Microsystems, responsible for providing technical
>> expertise to the Sun and CollabNet teams as well as the
>> OpenOffice.org community in building the Open Source office
>> suite.
>> Lanfranconi has held several positions at Sun since joining
>> in 1998, including Senior Systems Engineer and Software
>> Product Marketing Manager in Italy.
>> Before joining Sun, Lanfranconi has been for 10 years with
>> Banca Popolare di Bergamo, where he was involved in several
>> R&D projects inside the IT department of the bank.
>>
>>WHERE:
>> Cisco Building 9.
>> The land of NUMBERS. The VINEYARDS conference center.
>> The side we are on is the Silver Oak/Jordan conference rooms,
>> where a large Cisco fountain is usually not turned on.
>> Directions on how to get there are listed at:
>> http://www.svlug.org/directions/cisco-9.shtml
>> We've tried our very best for these directions to be accurate.
>> If you have any improvements to make, please let our Web Team
>> know! web-team@svlug.org
>>
>>NOTES:
>> It's best if you arrive close to on time, as otherwise
>> there may not be someone posted at the door to let you in.
>> After the speakers end their presentation there is usually
>> a Q&A session, time for job seekers and employers to meet,
>> and often a few door prizes.
>> When the meeting is over people are encouraged to chat a bit,
>> but also to exit the building so Cisco can lock up. Don't
>> worry, a lot of us go to dinner afterward so there's plenty
>> of time to chat outdoors or offsite.
>>
>>We look forward to seeing you there!
>>
>>--
>>
>> Tom Geller * San Francisco * tgeller.com
>>Speaker Coordinator, Silicon Valley Linux Users Group (svlug.org)
>> Current: tgeller.com, spamcon.org, bandwidthpr.com
>> Obsolete: suespammers.org, openppc.org, popcomputers.com
>>
>>_______________________________________________
>>svlug-announce mailing list
>>svlug-announce@lists.svlug.org
>>http://lists.svlug.org/lists/listinfo/svlug-announce
>>
>>----- End forwarded message -----
>>--
>>-- Grant Bowman <grantbow@svpal.org>
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.0.0 : Wed Oct 03 2001 - 12:34:46 PDT