Subject: Re: (SC22WG20.1658) RE: Personal contribution to ISO/IEC on some problems with WinWordor RTF formats for ISO/IEC electronic document distribution

From: [email-masked] (Michael Everson)
Date: Sat, 12 Oct 1996 11:03:06 +0100

A wide variety of formats should be supported. At present I have problems
using PDF formats, because the PDF extensions don't seem to like (this is
my guess) all the WorldScripts I have installed. Or maybe it is just the
Chinese.

I don't much like RTF either -- I have had bad experiences with people
trying to send me Russian code page RTF files and then the RTF converter
mucks it up because it decides that it's some Latin code page.

It is unacceptable for standards bodies to insist 1) on PC platform formats
and 2) on specific vendors' products. It is certainly true that in
CEN/TC304 we could produce very few of our standards with such limitations
(so we provide camera-ready copy for them). The Apple Macintosh may be in
the minority -- but minorities of many kinds have rights! And there is a
richness possible on the Macintosh -- just as there is in many minority
languages! -- that is unavailable elsewhere.

ISO shall not make rules which force people to give money to specific vendors.

Currently I do a lot of my own standards work using HTML, which is platform
independent and permits high Web-visibility. See my web pages. I take the
majority into account by choosing HTML.

Regards,

--
Michael Everson, Everson Gunn Teoranta
15 Port Chaeimhghein Íochtarach; Baile Átha Cliath 2; Éire (Ireland)
Gutháin:  +353 1 478-2597, +353 1 283-9396
http://www.indigo.ie/egt
27 Páirc an Fhéithlinn; Baile an Bhóthair; Co. Átha Cliath; Éire