Intended Audience
Those interested in the OpenDocument Format, OpenOffice.org, and in working toward socially responsible IT policies. All developers and policy makers, as well as students and instructors, welcome!
Why Formats Matter
Louis Suárez-Potts
We never used to care about electronic document formats; we never had choice, and when we did, we identified the format with the application. But we know better now and now we do have choice. That choice is important; it has consequences. The format you choose to save your intellectual property matters. Your choice affects not only how others close or far will be able to view and, if permitted, edit your documents, but the persistence of your property. We all want a format that can be implemented by a variety of applications and that can survive the inevitable demise of the company that created the application you first used. No one wants--or rather no one should want--vendor lock in and critical dependency on any one company, however large and monopolistic that company may be. Yet this undesirable situation is the one we usually find outselves in. That raises the first question this presentation seeks to answer: how can we change things? And how did we get into this place to begin with? But the second question is perhaps ultimately the more pressing and important: Why should we really care about formats if interoperability is preserved? Ought not the focus be on the application, not the format? Clearly, I disagree, and this presentation argues why formats matter and why we should care about them.
Louis Suárez-Potts
is the longtime Community Manager and Chair of the Community Council for OpenOffice.org;
he joined Sun Microsystems in 2007 and has led the OpenOffice.org community since 2000. The lead and colead
of several projects and the primary spokesperson and representative of OpenOffice.org, Suárez-Potts also
represents the project regarding OpenDocument format (ODF) matters, and is on the OASIS ODF Adoption
Technical Committee and is a member of the ODF Alliance. He speaks frequently on the ODF, OpenOffice.org,
education and open source, and community development throughout the world. Suárez-Potts is currently
working on several articles regarding open source development and education. He lives in Toronto and received
his PhD from U.C. Berkeley.