Subject: Re: Mime-types
From: WJCarpenter (bill-abisource@carpenter.ORG)
Date: Tue Feb 13 2001 - 12:04:44 CST
paul> PS: Are you suggesting that IETF folks, as a group, don't use
paul> word processors and never receive Word documents as attachments?
How could such a criterion possibly be relevant? Should the IETF also
adopt standards for the touch-tone signals sent on telephones, the
sizes of paper for laser printers, traffic control signs and markings,
and the symbols used on weather maps?
I'm suggesting you have the wrong standards body when you talk about
IETF backing a WP file format. For example, XML and HTML are *not*
IETF standards. IETF is about interoperating protocols for the
Internet, not about applications protocols. It's just a fish out of
water. To the extent that IETF cares at all about a WP format, it
already has one: the plain ASCII with simple (and rigid) formatting
that is required for standards-track RFCs. A few years ago, there was
a move to try to get PostScript renditions to carry normative weight:
it went nowhere because it made no sense and was pointlessly
cosmetic.
There are a couple of ways that someone with the ambition to pursue it
could go with "standardizing" the Abiword format (I think it's
premature anyhow, but it's not my ergs that would be spent):
1. One could do an "informational RFC". This is for non-standards
track stuff, and is not really subject to any sort of review. It's a
convenient place to publish information that is of interest to people
who lurk in IETF circles. I don't really believe the Abiword format
meets even this loose definition, but nobody would likely stop this
from happening (since it carries no real weight anyhow).
2. One could locate a standards body that actually was working on
interoperable WP formats. I'm sure the world is littered with them.
(Wasn't there some discussion on this list about that a few months
back? Is OpenOffice claiming to be such a thing?) This is a long
road since it is unlikely that any large body of people would make the
same choices as Abiword (beyond simple stuff like "hey, XML").
Both of these are beside the point in getting a MIME subtype
registered.
-- bill@carpenter.ORG (WJCarpenter) PGP 0x91865119 38 95 1B 69 C9 C6 3D 25 73 46 32 04 69 D6 ED F3
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