Difference between revisions of "OpenDoc"

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[[Image:OpenDoc_logo.png|right]]
 
[[Image:OpenDoc_logo.png|right]]
OpenDoc was a collaborative effort between [[Apple Computer]], [[IBM]], [[Wordperfect Corporation]] (later [[Novell]]), [[Sun Microsystems]], [[XSoft]] and [[Taligent]] to create a vendor independent, open standard for compound documents. Its development was later taken over by a company called '''Component Integration Laboratories''' (CI Labs) that was owned by Apple, IBM and Justsystem and for a time CIL marketed an OpenDoc/[[CORBA]] solution for [[Java]] under the '''Live Objects''' brand, but lack of sales meant that CI Labs was dissolved in 1998 and there was talk about open sourcing the code for OpenDoc and other CI Labs products but for legal reasons that never happened. IBM dropped support for OpenDoc as early as 1997 but  Apple supported OpenDoc until they started the move to OS X in 1998 and early versions of the OS9 emulator in OS X had an OpenDoc component.
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OpenDoc was a collaborative effort between [[Apple Computer]], [[IBM]], [[Wordperfect Corporation]] (later [[Novell]]), [[Sun Microsystems]], [[XSoft]] and [[Taligent]] to create a vendor independent, open standard for compound documents.  
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Its development was later taken over by a company called '''Component Integration Laboratories''' (CI Labs) that was owned by Apple, IBM and Justsystem and for a time CIL marketed an OpenDoc/[[CORBA]] solution for [[Java]] under the '''Live Objects''' brand, but lack of sales meant that CI Labs was dissolved in 1998 and there was talk about open sourcing the code for OpenDoc and other CI Labs products but for legal reasons that never happened.
  
 
;Technology
 
;Technology
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==Developer Frameworks==
 
==Developer Frameworks==
* [http://web.archive.org/web/19970701004234/http://www.devtools.apple.com/odf/download.html Apple OpenDoc Development Framework] (1997)
 
* Apple OpenDoc Essentials Kit 1.0.1 - OpenDocEssentialsKit1.0.1.hqx
 
* Apple OpenDoc 1.1.2 - InstallingOpenDoc1.1.2PPC.hqx
 
* Apple OpenDoc 1.1 - InstallingOpenDoc.hqx
 
* Apple OpenDoc 1.2 - InstallingOpenDoc1.2.hqx
 
 
* Novell version of OpenDoc (Contains early version of SOM for Windows)
 
* Novell version of OpenDoc (Contains early version of SOM for Windows)
 
* IBM Windows OpenDoc. With sources OpenDoc, Bento and IBM’s sample Parts. - [http://octagram.name/pub/somobjects/od124WIN.zip OD124WIN.ZIP]
 
* IBM Windows OpenDoc. With sources OpenDoc, Bento and IBM’s sample Parts. - [http://octagram.name/pub/somobjects/od124WIN.zip OD124WIN.ZIP]
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==Developer Tools==
 
==Developer Tools==
* [http://os2documentation.wikinet.org/wiki/PartMeister IBM PartMeister]
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* IBM PartMeister
  
 
==Publications==
 
==Publications==
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* IBM Part Development for OpenDoc - SG24-4673-01 - 1997-03-12
 
* IBM Part Development for OpenDoc - SG24-4673-01 - 1997-03-12
 
* [http://web.archive.org/web/19970701003423/http://www.devtools.apple.com/odf/index.html OpenDoc Development Framework ODF] - Apple Computers, Inc. (1997)
 
* [http://web.archive.org/web/19970701003423/http://www.devtools.apple.com/odf/index.html OpenDoc Development Framework ODF] - Apple Computers, Inc. (1997)
* [ftp://adelaar.handicom.nl/COMSPEC/OpenDoc/OpenDoc%.pdf  Apple Computer. OpenDoc Programmer’s Guide For the Mac OS] - Apple Computers, Inc. (December 1995)
 
 
* [http://info.wgbh.org/upf/pdfs/BentoSpec1_0d5.pdf Bento Specification Revision 1.0d5 July 15, 1993] by Jed Harris and Ira Ruben - Apple Computer, Inc.
 
* [http://info.wgbh.org/upf/pdfs/BentoSpec1_0d5.pdf Bento Specification Revision 1.0d5 July 15, 1993] by Jed Harris and Ira Ruben - Apple Computer, Inc.
  
 
== Software based on OpenDoc ==
 
== Software based on OpenDoc ==
* Apple CyberDog - http://www.cyberdog.org/
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* Lotus Components
* ClarisWorks 5.0 - Never released
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* AppleShare IP Manager from versions 5.0 to 6.2
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* WAV - word processor
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* Nisus Write
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* BBEdit Lite - Freeware text editor
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* RagTime - integrated office package with spreadsheet, publishing and image editing
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* Dock'Em  by MetaMind Software
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* [[Lotus Components]]
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* WebPainter for OpenDoc
 
* WebPainter for OpenDoc
 
* [[Mesa 2]] - Spreadsheet
 
* [[Mesa 2]] - Spreadsheet
* More at: http://web.archive.org/web/19961113030921/http://opendoc.apple.com/dev/action.html
 
  
 
==Links==
 
==Links==
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http://web.archive.org/web/20001201192200/http://www.best.com/~mccusker/index.htm
 
http://web.archive.org/web/20001201192200/http://www.best.com/~mccusker/index.htm
  
* Apple OpenDoc Site
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;Related projects
http://web.archive.org/web/19980422030132/http://opendoc.apple.com/
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==Related projects==
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* DocShell - http://sourceforge.net/p/docshell/wiki/Home/
 
* DocShell - http://sourceforge.net/p/docshell/wiki/Home/
 
* IronDoc (Bento Replacement) - http://web.archive.org/web/20001202063700/http://www.best.com/~mccusker/mc/wr/irondoc.htm
 
* IronDoc (Bento Replacement) - http://web.archive.org/web/20001202063700/http://www.best.com/~mccusker/mc/wr/irondoc.htm
  
 
[[Category:OpenDoc]][[Category:SOM]][[Category:File formats]]
 
[[Category:OpenDoc]][[Category:SOM]][[Category:File formats]]

Revision as of 15:31, 24 March 2016

OpenDoc logo.png

OpenDoc was a collaborative effort between Apple Computer, IBM, Wordperfect Corporation (later Novell), Sun Microsystems, XSoft and Taligent to create a vendor independent, open standard for compound documents.

Its development was later taken over by a company called Component Integration Laboratories (CI Labs) that was owned by Apple, IBM and Justsystem and for a time CIL marketed an OpenDoc/CORBA solution for Java under the Live Objects brand, but lack of sales meant that CI Labs was dissolved in 1998 and there was talk about open sourcing the code for OpenDoc and other CI Labs products but for legal reasons that never happened.

Technology

Basically an OpenDoc compound document is comprised of modules known as "Parts" that each have its own control program that is referred to as an "Editor". An OpenDoc Part can be anything a normal application would offer, eg a spreadsheet Part, a text Part, a database Part and so on, each Part can not only coexist with other parts in the compound document but they can also nest inside each other. When you open a compound document, you are effectively using a collection of Editors rather than a single program.

If no other storage format is requested or specified by the Editor the data is stored in a meta-format called Bento, that gives each Editor or Part a storage object of its own called "Storage Unit" that contains a list of properties inside it making it look like a file directory to the end user, in turn each Storage Unit is contained inside a list of SU's called Draft but in addition to operating as a sort of an index for Storage units contained inside the handles the householding of file reads and writes, but changes to a Storage Unit are not saved wholesale by a Draft but rather only the changes at each save, which in turn opens up the possibility of an almost infinite undo/redo operations.

OpenDoc received quite a bit of criticism for being overly complex for what it does.

Collaborative editing

But there is another aspect to a compound document system and that is the possibility of collaborative editing, OpenDoc supports more that one person "owning" each document so that more than one person can work on each document at a time if the application supports it, this is more or less inherent with the external material embedded into another doucement nature of a compound document. But more interestingly even if the application in question does not support it directly more than one person can work on the same document as long as they are not working inside the same container, e.g. a graphics designer can continue to work on the graphics inside one container while the author of the text or code can carry on working inside his container.

While we do have collaborative document systems today with sundry web based services they all require access to a centralised and specialised document servers while OpenDoc and similar systems allow this by default and without the need for external mechanisms of any kind.

Background & history

While OpenDoc is sometimes presented as an answer to Microsoft's Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) technologies it actually has a history predating Microsoft's introduction of OLE and the rather weak COM model, OpenDoc's ancestry lies with the Xerox Star system which offered a rudimentary compound document system, but a number of the original OpenDoc team at Apple had worked for Xerox on the Star prior to joining Apple. What spurred them into action was the huge interest generated by the extensible objects available for the Oberon operating system and the compound documents that went with that idea, those two technologies were a hot topic in the early nineties.

The research into the Oberon extensible/compound document system eventually resulted in the Oberon/F system later commercialised under the BlackBox Oberon name, but further development of that system was hampered when Microsoft poached more or less the entire BlackBox development team from Oberon Microsystems. Noticeably the BlackBox system is easier to use and develop for, much simpler and faster than OpenDoc if not as language independent.

Developer Frameworks

  • Novell version of OpenDoc (Contains early version of SOM for Windows)
  • IBM Windows OpenDoc. With sources OpenDoc, Bento and IBM’s sample Parts. - OD124WIN.ZIP
  • IBM AIX OpenDoc. For AIX 4.1 - Relies on SOMTK SDK (not included) - OpenDoc.tar.Z.
  • IBM OS/2 OpenDoc 1.2 - opendc12.zip

Developer Tools

  • IBM PartMeister

Publications

Books

Articles

Introductory articles and presentations
Design
In practice (Using and developing with OpenDoc)
Collaborative aspects
Retrospectives
Bento
Open Scripting Architecture (OSA)
More Articles
Related patents
Marketing material

Documentation

  • Bento Specification(PDF) - Revision 1.0d5 - July 15, 1993 by Jed Harris and Ira Ruben. Apple Computer, Inc.

Software based on OpenDoc

  • Lotus Components
  • WebPainter for OpenDoc
  • Mesa 2 - Spreadsheet

Links

  • Greg Maletic - 1995 Apple Product Marketing Manager for OpenDoc.

https://gregmaletic.wordpress.com/2006/11/12/opendoc/

  • David McCusker - IronDoc project

http://web.archive.org/web/20001201192200/http://www.best.com/~mccusker/index.htm

Related projects