Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!seismo!sundc!pitstop!sun!JPALME@QZCOM.bitnet
From: JPALME@QZCOM.bitnet (Jacob Palme QZ)
Newsgroups: comp.text.desktop
Subject: Re: ODA/ODIF
Message-ID: <38847@sun.uucp>
Date: 14 Jan 88 17:47:26 GMT
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> Yes, let's hear more about ODA/ODIF.  As with so many convergences in
> our modern world, there is one right around the corner involving word
> processing, electronic mail, electronic publishing, hypermedia,
> desktop publishing, etc.  Yet another opportunity for those with
> vision and tenacity to take the collective bull by the horns.

I am no expert on ODA/ODIF, but will try to answer what I can,
and try to find out more and give more answers later on:

> Some interesting initial questions are:
>
> * How do we get the ODA/ODIF standards documents?

You get them from the national standards organisation in your
country, that is, for the U.S., the National Bureaux of Standards.

> * How does ODA/ODIF compare with IBM's DCA, etc, which seems to be
> becoming a defacto interchange standard in this country?

I do not know, will try to find out. As we all know, there are three
sometimes collaborating but too often competing major international
standards making organisations: ISO, CCITT and IBM!

A third alternative to ODA/ODIF and DCA is SGML. A difference between
ODA/ODIF and SGML is that ODA/ODIF is a binary format, while SGML
is a textual format, like RUNOFF, TeX, Scribe etc. SGML was initiated
by IBM, but has also been accepted as an ISO standard, so ISO has
actually two different standards of this kind, both ODA/ODIF
and SGML. ODA/ODIF is however regarded as the major, and most
advanced of them.

> * How does ODA/ODIF relate to something like PostScript, which
> (especially with its soon-to-arrive screen display versions) is an
> interchange standard of a different sort?

ODA/ODIF is on a higher level than PostScript. It allows both a logical
and a physical description of a document at the same time.
Graphics is in ODA/ODIF done using some ISO standard for Graphics,
I belive GKS (Graphical Kernel System), this is not identical to
PostScript.

But of course it will be possible to write ODA/ODIF to PostScript
translators. I am not sure if the reverse is possible, since PostScript
is on a lower level.

> * Are there implementations of ODA/ODIF?

Well, that is what I was asking about. What I know is that in Europe
there are several projects going on for developing ODA/ODIF translators.

> * Is ODA/ODIF capable of rendering the sorts of hypermedia things we
> (well, I at least) expect to do?

I am not sure what you want, but I believe ODA/ODIF has most of the
things you might want. I am not sure whether voice and animation is
included if you want that also! I will try to find out.

> * Is there already a mailing list/newsgroup on this topic anywhere?

Not to my knowledge.

> * And, um, what do the letters stand for?

ODA = Office Document Architecture
ODIF = Office Document Interchange Format

ODA/ODIF is defined in several levels, so that you can implement
only the simpler levels if you do not want to include in your
implementation more advanced things like for example graphics.
Thus, when you buy an ODA/ODIF implementation, carefully check
which level of ODA/ODIF is supported.
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