Re: xsl-fo first anniversary

Eliot,

Thank you for the kind remarks - as probably one of the few I think you
were referring to (can't believe we actually spent almost 20 years working
on device-independent, formatter-independent Standardized Style Sheet
Languages for markup systems) I can only say that perhaps stubborness and
persistence pays off after all.

 I am really happy to see your remarks - we all worked VERY Hard, not only
the Working Group, but the phenomenal job the implementers did to make it
all real.  We are all delighted at the reception and usage FOs are getting
out in the world, but I must say seeing your note makes it all worthwhile.
Never thought I would live to see it.

Thanks again.  We are examining our requirements for a follow-on release
and if you have any feedback for us let us know.


Sharon C. Adler
 Senior Manager, Extensible Technologies
 IBM Research
 PO Box 704, Yorktown Heights, NY  10598
 tel:  914-784-6411 t/l 863
 fax: 914-784-6324



                                                                                                                                  
                      "W. Eliot Kimber"                                                                                           
                      <eliot@isogen.com        To:       www-xsl-fo@w3.org                                                        
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                      10/15/2002 10:12                                                                                            
                      AM                                                                                                          
                      Please respond to                                                                                           
                      eliot                                                                                                       
                                                                                                                                  
                                                                                                                                  




Oleg Tkachenko wrote:
 >
 > Hello!
 >
 > xsl-fo is 1 year old now, congratulations to editors, implementors,
 > developers and users!

Absolutely! Here's what I say in my XML 2002 paper on the subject of
using XSL FO for production use (discussing ISOGEN's recent experience
in the context of my 15-year dream of doing print production from
structured markup):

"There were some tense moments along the way, and a few late nights, but
I can report that we were successful in developing an FO-based solution
that does everything we need it to, at a lower implementation cost,
lower software cost, and lower maintenance cost, than the system we
replaced. At the time of writing, October 2002, all technical issues
relating to the formatting requirements and the functionality of the FO
implementation used have been resolved (and all but a couple small
issues had been resolved by May of 2002) and the system is ready for
production use. From this experience I am confident not only that XSL FO
can be safely used to do high-quality print production of XML documents
but that it is without question a superior solution to anything I have
used in the past, as long as you can satisfy your page layout
requirements."

Congratulations to the XSL FO working group for having produced a
specification of remarkable value and clarity. For many of the members
of the working group it represents the culimination of at least two
decades of very hard and trying work toward this goal.

Cheers,

Eliot
--
W. Eliot Kimber, eliot@isogen.com
Consultant, ISOGEN International

1016 La Posada Dr., Suite 240
Austin, TX  78752 Phone: 512.656.4139

Received on Thursday, 17 October 2002 22:17:41 UTC