Greetings,
in the last two days I've been able to check this list only through
webmail, that is in an almost unreadable interface. I have seen there
have been a lot of posts about my "obsession" with doing portable
OpenDocument macros in Python or whatever else. Due to the problems
above I've been only able to read some parts of only a few messages.
I will re-read them and answer when needed now, but what I read from
webmail makes me already think it's necessary to (re)-explain why I'm
making such a pest of myself, to put everything in context.
I am not a C/C++ programmer and have no time or skills to become one
in the foreseable future.
However, I am an advanced Linux user, pretty good with shell, Perl and
other kinds of scripting, and *very* interested in advancement of open
standards. So, yes, I do know just enough IT to be obnoxious, but I am
(I hope) aware of it most of the time, and do it in good faith.
I have realized that:
macros are not portable across OO.o KOffice and other future
OpenDocument processors
end users *will* expect them to be portable, since "they are into
the file whose format is standard, didn't you tell us so?"
this and similar things can become sensible PR problems for OO.o and
FOSS in general ("MS was right, this darn FOSS circus *is* so
fragmented and lacking a common strategy to be unusable...")
almost all developers I've asked about this had never realized the
last two points above. Some *have* expressed interest and said it is
a good idea which should be worked on in the future.
So,
I agree a macro scripting standard should not be part of OpenDocument
I agree that it will never be able to replicate everything in the
current OO.o API, and agree that it would be unnecessary, to say the
least
I am sure that if this ever becomes a standard as I hope, it should be
ratified (under a truly open IP policy) from OASIS or similar
organizations, otherwise it won't be taken seriously
I am *not* asking you or anybody else to do it for me yesterday
but I want to write an article that:
explains the problem, so IT-challenged end users (and buyers)
will be aware of it, and don't plague oo-users and
similar lists with "macros aren't portable" complaints
two years from now (*)
define what is unnecessary/unrealistic to ask and why
define what could be a limited, more realistic goal (the
"javascript-like", in-document only macros), and list what one
should do, what to read, which lists to join etc... to give a hand
(consider that EU and other public organizations around *do* fund
from time to time far-fetched FOSS-related projects, so if all this
makes them fund some third party to do it, everybody is happy:
stranger things have happened...)
So this is the context in which my questions should be read: there is
a practical reason and, I hope, something useful to the whole
community in helping me to sort this out.
Back to the original thread now.
TIA,
Marco
(*) Who am I kidding? They *will* come in droves to bother you, but
you will be able to just tell them "Shut up and just read Marco's
article to know why not!". Am I helpful or what? :-)
--
Marco Fioretti mfioretti, at the server mclink.it
Fedora Core 3 for low memory http://www.rule-project.org/
"A good day is for me much food, much sex, much children."
Kirstie Alley
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