[widgets] Comments on the 9-Feb-2009 BONDI v1.0 Release Candidate

David - I was not able to submit my comments via the link you  
provided below. Here is what I wanted to submit ...

Below are some comments regarding the BONDI 1.0 Release Candidate (RC).

These comments are sent as a Chair of the W3C's Web Applications  
(WebApps) Working Group (WG) and do not necessarily reflect the view  
of my employer and they do not  reflect the consensus of the WebApps WG.

My comments are limited to the RC's use of the WebApp's Widgets specs  
and do not address any of the other functionality in this RC.

First, it is good OMTP intends to use various Widgets specifications  
being developed by the WebApps WG. However, the use of those specs,  
as codified in this RC raises serious concerns and if this RC is  
implemented and deployed without addressing these concerns, the  
result will be increased fragmentation in the market.

* Use of incomplete specifications - the RC normatively references at  
least three of the W3C's Widgets specs and all of these specs are  
still in the Working Draft (WD) state and all of these WDs clearly  
state the spec is not yet ready to be implemented. Thus, the RC is by  
definition also a work in progress and hence not yet stable enough to  
be implemented. Yet, the expectation appears to be that OMTP  
considers the RC complete and stable enough to be implemented in  
products.

* Spec forking and fragmentation - since the RC uses incomplete  
Widgets specs, OMTP has taken the liberty of completing the Widgets  
specs by both specifying "fixes" to known holes and issues and by  
specifying "extensions" to the Widgets specs. This effectively  
results in forking the Widgets specs and exacerbates fragmentation by  
promoting implementations of BONDI widgets that are will not be  
compatible with implementations of W3C widgets.

* Interoperability - it is not possible to objectively define what it  
means for implementations of this RC to be interoperable. At a  
minimum, I would expect the RC's exit criteria to include a test  
suite that tests every assertion in the specs. Additionally, to prove  
the RC can be implemented in an interoperable way, I would expect the  
RC's exit criteria to require at least two implementations to pass  
all of the tests.

Lastly, it isn't too late to address the above concerns if OMTP is  
willing to work with the WebApps WG. In particular, we can work  
together to: address issues in the relevant Widgets specs, complete  
the Widgets specs and create a comprehensive test suite.

-Regards, Art Barstow (Chair of W3C's Web Applications WG)


On Mar 18, 2009, at 11:33 AM, ext David Rogers wrote:

> Dear all,
>
> I’d like to remind webapps members that the formal period for  
> feedback on the BONDI candidate release 1.0 specifications is the  
> 23rd of March 2009. I encourage you to provide feedback before that  
> date, in order that we can consider this before the specification  
> for 1.0 release is finalised. Feedback can be registered as formal  
> Change Requests at [1].
>
> Please let me know if you need any more information.
>
> Thanks,
>
> David.
>
> [1] http://bondi.omtp.org/Lists/BONDI%2010%20CR%20%20Feedback/ 
> AllItems.aspx
>
> David Rogers
> OMTP Director of External Relations

Received on Monday, 23 March 2009 01:02:20 UTC