Open XML blogging in 2007
It's been quite a year for those who have been blogging about the Open XML file formats. Here's a look back at some of the stories I remember best from this busy year ...
January:
- Brian Jones provides an overview of Passing the Open XML standard off to ISO, followed by a post on the history of Office XML formats.
- My first post of 2007 covers Dr. John Tunnicliffe's ExcelPackage API for Open XML spreadsheets.
- Tristan Davis explains how content controls and the XML data store (custom XML parts) enable true data/view separation.
- Rob Weir kicks off the new year with How to hire Guillaume Portes and an Emerson quote about a foolish consistency, inspiring me to quote Emerson on counting spoons.
- Kevin Boske releases videos on how to use Ken Getz's Open XML code snippets for the System.IO.Packaging API.
- Miguel de Icaza weighs in on the debate around document formats.
- Rick Jelliffe's blog kicks off Wikigate, which throws a few folks into a tizzy, and even Stephen Colbert eventually covers the "story" before the real press figures out nothing's going on.
February:
- This month finds me at Linux Asia in Delhi and Open XML workshops in Sydney and Canberra.
- Version 1.0 of the Open XML Translator project is released.
- Datawatch announces their Monarch V9 product includes support for Open XML spreadsheets and formulas.
- Brian Jones takes a close look at how ODF and Open XML handle application settings, a topic that will be revisited many times in the DIS29500 debate.
- The Wraith starts blogging because he (or she) is "bored with all the nonsense written about OOXML."
March:
- I'm in Redmond most of the month, musing about interoperability and catching up with friends at the Open XML workshop we did during the week of the MVP summit.
- Stephen McGibbon posts screen shots of OpenOffice's Open XML support, and his Stuck in the past explores why document formats are not a zero-sum game.
- Dennis Hamilton's Why not .rtfx? considers some possible creative uses for OPC outside the scope of Open XML.
- Michael Scherotter blogs about Mindjet's approach to Open XML interoperability.
- Art imitates life: "Pam Jones" bans "the Wraith" from Groklaw.
- The last week of March finds me in Prague, Ghent and Ljubljana for Open XML workshops.
April:
- The DIS ballot period begins on April 2, and technical committees worldwide begin reviewing the spec.
- In April I deliver Open XML workshops in Munich, Kiev, and Beijing.
- The PHPExcel API for Open XML gives PHP developers a set of tools for Open XML development, thanks to the work of Maarten Balliauw and Jakub Vrana.
- Sam Hiser posts a joke that some folks don't get for a few months.
May:
- May finds me doing workshops in Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Kenya.
- I blog about one of Open XML's most popular features in custom schemas revisited.
- Brian Jones notes the formation of DIN's document translation working group in Germany.
- Stephen McGibbon covers Open XML support for Mobile Devices from DataViz.
- The Wraith wonders Has IBM annexed the Kenyan ISO National body?
- Julien Chable's OpenXML4J API project is officially launched.
June:
- I take a close look at Open XML's approach to numbering options.
- We announce the Microsoft SDK for Open XML at TechEd in Orlando, and I get a chance to catch up with friends like Stephen, Ted, Patrick, Mick, Erika, Steph, and everyone I'm forgetting to name at the moment.
- Altova announces comprehensive Open XML support in their XML Spy product.
- Brian Jones blogs about IBM's positive comments regarding Open XML interoperability; pinch me, I must be dreaming.
- Rob Weir's No representation without specification makes the case for full documentation of Open XML's compatibility settings.
- Stephen McGibbon's IBM's antics carrying on and Rick Jelliffe's Fantasy Press Releases make my face red.
July:
- The INCITS V1 technical committee in the US reaches deadlock after a long meeting on Friday the 13th; paraskevidekatriaphobia ensues.
- Brian Jones notes iPhone support for Open XML and discusses the philosophy behind the WordprocessingML document model.
- Rick Jelliffe congratulates Slashdotters on herding the beast, and offers Bribery Watch "in the spirit of truth and reconciliation, and to calm the situation down."
- Rob Weir looks back on a year of anti-Open XML blogging, Stephen McGibbon reminds us that Dastardly and Muttley have been here beforeJon Udell
- , and
- chats with me about my Open XML travels.
August:
- The INCITS executive board passes a motion for the US to vote Yes with comments on DIS29500.
- The revised Massachusetts ETRM includes Open XML, ODF, PDF and other document formats.
- Our friends over at MSDN publish a set of developer workshop videos from the San Francisco workshop.
- Brian's post on the Ecma meetings in Toronto starts a free-ranging discussion.
- Mike Ormond starts a useful video series on Content Controls and Repeating Data.
- Rick Jelliffe cements his reputation as a Microsoft shill with My recommendation on Office Open XML: "No with Comments"!
- Wouter Van Vugt announces availability of version 3.0 RC1 of Package Explorer, and the OpenXMLDeveloper.org web site publishes his eBook "Open XML Explained".
September:
- The voting results for DIS 29500 are this month's big story, and Stephen McGibbon's DIS29500/IS26300 ballot results in charts provides a clear visual overview of the outcome.
- Jason Matusow posts Independent Implementations of Open XML and Open XML Implementations Part 2.
- Blogging from Malaysia during TechEd, I post a set of OPC test documents for developers.
- Dennis Hamilton comments on the state of the debate from a long-term perspective, and Mick Lohan explores dynamic Open XML tables from a an Irish VBA perspective.
- NOOOXML.org reviews my latest videos, granting me the sexy screen name Hug Madog; how'd they know?
October:
- David Gainer posts about conditional formatting on the Excel team blog, and I show some Open XML markup samples.
- Brian Jones blogs about a beta version of Wordperfect that supports both Open XML and ODF.
- Oliver Bell covers the public rift between ODF supporters that has started popping up in comments on document-format blog threads ever since Gary Edwards let the cat out of the bag.
- RosettaNet Malaysia announces Open XML support in their RosettaNet Automated Enablement standard.
- NOOOXML.org announces that Microsoft is the winner of their 2500-Euro Kayak award, as I had requested back in July.
November:
- The Open XML to DAISY translator project is announced by Reed Shaffner at TechEd/Barcelona.
- JTC 1 publishes Alex Brown's much-needed and much-appreciated ISO/IEC DIS 29500 Ballot Resolution Meeting (BRM) FAQ on the JTC 1/SC 34 web site.
- Barack Obama tells Google he would "put government data online in universally accessible formats," which eWeek interprets as Obama voices support for ODF.
- Andy Updegrove kicks off his ODF vs. OOXML: War of the Words eBook project. (Note to self: get to work on screenplay project. )
December:
- Wouter Van Vugt releases the Word 2007 Databinding Toolkit
- Gray Knowlton blogs some interesting data on File size reduction for Open XML and Compatibility pack for Open XML: 20 Million downloads and counting.
- Brian's Why all the secrecy? starts a lively debate, as does Jesper Lund Stocholm's Hypocrisy 101.
- NOOOXML.org congratulates Eric White and me on our recent role changes at Microsoft.
- Eric continues his series on Using LINQ to XML with Open XML Documents with WordprocessingML and SpreadsheetML classes.
- James Newton King covers LINQ to XML over large documents and explains how LINQ can handle WordprocessingML structure in "LINQ over OOXML: Loving it.
- After writing and reviewing hundreds of proposed dispositions for NB comments, TC45 reaches the 2/3 point and heads into the home stretch.
What a year. If 2008 is just half as busy, and Open XML gets just half as much attention, and I travel just half as much as I did in 2007 ... that will be plenty.
Happy New Year, everyone!