FYI (frå XML-DEV):

A new OASIS technical committee is being formed. The OASIS XML Localisation Interchange File Format Technical Committee has been proposed by the following members of OASIS: Tony Jewtushenko, Oracle; Matthew Lovatt, Oracle; Fiona Ebbs, Novell; John Reid, Novell; John Corrigan, Sun Microsystems; Mark Levins, IBM/Lotus; Yves Savourel, RWS Group; Enda McDonnell, Individual member; Jonathan Clark, Lionbridge; Milan Karasek, Moravia; and Peter Reynolds, Individual member.

The proposal for a new TC meets the requirements of the OASIS TC Process (see http://oasis-open.org/committees/process.shtml), and is appended to this message. The proposal, which includes a statement of purpose, list of deliverables, and proposed schedule, will constitute the TC's charter. The TC Process allows these items to be clarified (revised) by the TC members; such clarifications (revisions), as well as submissions of technology for consideration by the TC and the beginning of technical discussions, may occur no sooner than the TC's first meeting.

To become a member of this new TC you must 1) be an employee of an OASIS member organization or an Individual member of OASIS; 2) notify the TC chair, Tony Jewtushenko (tony.jewtushenko@oracle.com), of your intent to participate at least 15 days prior to the first meeting; and 3) participate in the first meeting on 22 January 2002. You should also subscribe to the TC's discussion list. Note that membership in OASIS TCs is by individual, and not by organization. You must be eligible for participation at the time you time you notify the chair.

The private mail list xliff@lists.oasis-open.org is for committee discussions. TC members as well as any other interested OASIS members should subscribe to the list by going to the mail list web page at http://lists.oasis-open.org/ob/adm.pl, or by sending a message to xliff-request@lists.oasis-open.org with the word "subscribe" as the body of the message. (Note that subscribing to the mail list does not make you a member of the TC; to become a member you must contact the TC chair as described in the preceeding paragraph.)

A public comment list xliff-comment@lists.oasis-open.org will be available for the public to make comments on the work of this TC; the public may subscribe to this list by going to the mail list web page at http://lists.oasis-open.org/ob/adm.pl, or by sending a message to xliff-comment-request@lists.oasis-open.org with the word "subscribe" as the body of the message.

The archives of both of these mail lists are visible to the public at http://lists.oasis-open.org/archives/

============================================================== === Karl F. Best OASIS - Director, Technical Operations 978.667.5115 x206 karl.best@oasis-open.org http://www.oasis-open.org

XLIFF Technical Committee Proposal

(i) Name of the TC:

XLIFF, XML Localisation Interchange File Format

(ii) Statement of purpose:

The purpose of the XLIFF TC is to define a specification for an extensible localisation interchange format that will allow any software provider to produce a single interchange format that can be delivered to and understood by any localisation service provider. The format should be tool independent, standardised, and support the whole localisation process. It will comprehensively support common software data formats and be open enough to allow the development of tools compatible with an implementer's own proprietary data formats and company culture.

The current state of affairs in software localisation is that a software provider delivers their localisable resources to a localisation service provider in a number of disparate file formats. If the software provider has common industry standard file formats, this makes the task of interchanging files easier. However, when there are uncommon or nonstandard file formats either the software provider or the localisation service provider must provide a method for the file to be localised. For a software provider with many of these uncommon or nonstandard files, this requirement becomes a major hurdle when attempting to have their software localised.

The first phase is to create a working specification that will concentrate on the software UI file requirements. However, it should also include all of the building blocks required to ensure that we could implement the document elements at any time.

This work is based on work previously done by the Yahoo! DataDefinition Group. That group has produced a white paper, a specification, and a DTD, which were made public through that group's site. This specification will be submitted for approval as the XLIFF 1.0 specification in the first meeting.

XLIFF 1.0 is submitted with the following intellectual property rights statement:

Each of the submitting companies, referenced in section (vii), below, agrees to offer a license, on reasonable and non- discriminatory terms, to use any patent claim it owns or controls and which is necessarily infringed by use of the XLIFF format described in this submission or any Committee Specification or OASIS standard based thereon. Such a license will be for the limited purpose of implementing the XLIFF format described in this submission or in any Committee Specification or OASIS standard based thereon, and may be conditioned on the licensee's agreement to grant a reciprocal license on reasonable and non-discriminatory terms to use any patent claim it owns or controls and which is necessarily infringed by use of the XLIFF format described in this submission or in any Committee Specification or OASIS standard based thereon.

The archive for previous discussions can be found at the following URL:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DataDefinition

The white paper, the specification, and the DTD and can be found at this URL:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DataDefinition/files/Final

(iii) Proposed list of deliverables, with projected dates:

XLIFF 1.0 Specification; 2 weeks after 1st meeting XLIFF 1.0 DTD; 2 weeks after 1st meeting XLIFF 1.0 White Paper; 2 weeks after 1st meeting XLIFF 1.0 Schema; 2 months after 1st meeting XLIFF 1.1 Specification; 6 months after 1st meeting XLIFF 1.1 DTD; 6 months after 1st meeting XLIFF 1.1 Schema; 6 months after 1st meeting

(iv) Language in which the TC will conduct business:

U.K. English

(v) Date and time of the first meeting:

22 January 2002; 16:00 GMT; Phone conference

(vi) Meeting schedule for the year following the formation of the TC, or until the projected date of the final deliverable, whichever comes first:

Bi-weekly phone conference

(vii) Names, electronic mail addresses, and membership affiliations of PEOTCPs committed to the stated meeting schedule:

Tony Jewtushenko, tony.jewtushenko@oracle.com; Oracle Matthew Lovatt, matthew.lovatt@oracle.com; Oracle Fiona Ebbs; FEbbs@novell.com; Novell John Reid; jreid@novell.com; Novell John Corrigan, John.Corrigan@ireland.sun.com; Sun Microsystems Mark Levins, Mark_Levins@ie.ibm.com; IBM/Lotus Yves Savourel, ysavourel@translate.com; RWS Group Enda McDonnell, EndaMcD@alchemysoftware.ie, Individual member Jonathan Clark, Jonathan_Clark@lionbridge.com, Lionbridge Milan Karasek, milank@moravia-it.com, Moravia Peter Reynolds, Peter.Reynolds@Berlitz.ie, Individual member

(viii) Name of the TC chair:

Tony Jewtushenko, Oracle

(ix) Names of phone meeting sponsors:

Tony Jewtushenko, Oracle

(x) Names of face-to-face meeting sponsors:

Fiona Ebbs, Novell

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