[MPEG-OTSPEC] Proposal to discontinue the AdHoc Group

[John Hudson]

On 23092020 12:20 pm, Levantovsky, Vladimir wrote:
>
> While there are clearly untenable problems with the AHG, it has, in 
> all its better moments, functioned as a buffer between individuals who 
> just want to discuss and collaborate on font technology and the ISO 
> bureaucracy.
>
> What, in your opinion, has changed between “this AHG” and “the AHG in 
> all its better moments”?
>
The fact that is has become dysfunctional to the point that members are 
actively proposing to ask SC92 mirrors to discontinue it, and that the 
nature of how the group operates and communicates, and the inability or 
unwillingness to use better methods, inhibits the kinds of collaboration 
that members want. Finally, I think the tacit agreement to keep OFF and 
MSOT in synch is an inevitable point of friction for any ad hoc group, 
because that can't be fairly managed in a way that doesn't give 
Microsoft an effective veto on innovation — even if that veto is only 
exercised in inaction.

> OFF is very likely to be at the end of one or more of those channels, 
> but I still want a buffer between the collaboration and the ISO 
> process: just a better one than this AHG.
>
> Procedurally, the AHG is the only available buffer mechanism between 
> outside collaborators and the ISO process. The only other alternative 
> is direct WG involvement through National Bodies by all involved in 
> this AHG.
>
Correction: the AHG is the only available buffer mechanism between 
outside collaborators and the ISO process /that is procedurally 
constituted and managed by ISO./ My point is that being procedurally 
constituted and managed by ISO is exactly the problem: the procedures 
are both arcane and obsolete, and are not helpful to collaboration. 
Ergo, collaboration should happen elsewhere. How the products of such 
collaboration feed into OFF formal drafts and ratification is really 
moot. This is why I have not joined others in calling for the AHG to be 
discontinued: if it is a useful pathway for proposals to be submitted, 
rather than going through national standards bodies, then it serves a 
purpose. Some people, as indicated, may prefer to go through national 
standards bodies. What the AHG doesn't seem useful for is actively 
collaborating on innovation in font technology.

JH


-- 

John Hudson
Tiro Typeworks Ltd    www.tiro.com
Salish Sea, BC        tiro at tiro.com

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