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Beijing, April 17, 2007 - Sun Microsystem's Chairman Scott McNealy delivered the keynote at a standards conference sponsored by Chinese government ministries, councils and commissions (and Sun) today. In his address, McNealy characterized the Chinese-developed Uniform Document Format (UOF) as "one of the three main document formats in existence today," the other two being Microsoft Office and the OASIS/ISO standard known as Open Document Format (ODF). He also called for the merger of UOF and ODF into a single standard.
What is significant about his statement is not the sentiment, as a harmonization or merger of the two formats has been a topic of private conversation and speculation for some time. OASIS, for example, chartered a working group some months ago to explore with the Chinese how the two formats might be brought closer. But until now, ODF proponents have been shy about placing any pressure on the Chinese to take any such action, not unlike someone who very much wants to be asked on a date, but is afraid to scare off the object of affection by being too forward.
Why the call for harmonization or merger would be made here is not difficult to guess. For Sun's Chairman to travel all the way to China to deliver the message is clearly good diplomacy. One might wonder, though, why now? Perhaps the comfort level and discussions between the two sides relating to a technical détente may have risen to the level where Sun felt the timing was right. Or perhaps Sun wants to add one more element of momentum behind the advance of ODF while OOXML is under review in ISO, if the Chinese are receptive to the invitation.
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