[MPEG-OTSPEC] Proposal to discontinue the AdHoc Group

[Jonathan Kew]

On 23/09/2020 23:21, Peter Constable wrote:
>
> > 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.
>
> I don’t think this is quite right, looking at history of the past many 
> years.
>
> Microsoft as owners and stewards of the OT spec have at times provided 
> a context in which MS and other industry collaborators could innovate 
> on the font format and feed those innovations into OFF. In those 
> situations, that context provided just the kind of buffer you 
> describe. Variations is an familiar example of that.
>

However -- while I greatly appreciate the fact that the Variations work 
got done -- my impression is that it very much did _not_ happen in an 
"open" way; it was cooked up in a (metaphorical) smoke-filled back room 
among Microsoft and a few chosen collaborators, and then presented to 
the wider type world as a fait accompli.

That approach may have worked effectively in this case, but I don't 
think it's a good model of the kind of open, collaborative innovation 
process that people here are seeking.

JK