I agree with Adrian's comments BUT I also have a number of years experience in the UK IT industry including the management of software development and the management and support of software products. If the propositions are correct that a well defined specification for GEDCOM exists it would now be considered 'old hat' for each of twenty (?) software suppliers to be developing their own version of export file. Rather it would be far better for a single organisation such as SoG to have one export routine developed to meet the specification and with interfaces for the suppliers to tailor it to their individual products. Whether a separate import routine would be needed for each supplier, or whether a single one, again with a tailorable interface, would work, I am unsure. Of course we must not lose sight of the fact that this is an international standard so it's not immediately clear to me where the 'lead' may sit. Rather than putting pressure on a multitude of suppliers it would be better leadership for one organisation to accept responsibility for the development and recover the costs from either donations from each of the companies or from a licensing fee. Though I would suggest that this should actually become freeware that is available to anyone who wants to licence it, in order not to exclude new entrants to the market. Best regards Blair Southerden CEng. FBCS. CITP.

If GEDCOM or GEDCOMX is indeed an "international standard" SoG and others should be pressing for it (them?) to be taken under the wing of the International Standards Organisation (ISO), of which the UK member organisation is the British Standards Institution (BSI). Some may demur on the grounds of time and even bureaucracy, but from experience at UK and European level I know that great care would be taken, that individuals from all important and relevant organisations would be involved, and that the result would be a genuine and accepted standard. Rod Moulding -----Original Message----- From: Blair Southerden Sent: Tuesday, April 24, 2012 9:27 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [SOG-UK] GEDCOM I agree with Adrian's comments BUT I also have a number of years experience in the UK IT industry including the management of software development and the management and support of software products. If the propositions are correct that a well defined specification for GEDCOM exists it would now be considered 'old hat' for each of twenty (?) software suppliers to be developing their own version of export file. Rather it would be far better for a single organisation such as SoG to have one export routine developed to meet the specification and with interfaces for the suppliers to tailor it to their individual products. Whether a separate import routine would be needed for each supplier, or whether a single one, again with a tailorable interface, would work, I am unsure. Of course we must not lose sight of the fact that this is an international standard so it's not immediately clear to me where the 'lead' may sit. Rather than putting pressure on a multitude of suppliers it would be better leadership for one organisation to accept responsibility for the development and recover the costs from either donations from each of the companies or from a licensing fee. Though I would suggest that this should actually become freeware that is available to anyone who wants to licence it, in order not to exclude new entrants to the market. Best regards Blair Southerden CEng. FBCS. CITP. ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

On 24 Apr at 22:08, "Rod Moulding" <[email protected]> wrote: > If GEDCOM or GEDCOMX is indeed an "international standard" SoG and > others should be pressing for it (them?) to be taken under the wing of > the International Standards Organisation (ISO), of which the UK member > organisation is the British Standards Institution (BSI). Some may > demur on the grounds of time and even bureaucracy, but from experience > at UK and European level I know that great care would be taken, that > individuals from all important and relevant organisations would be > involved, and that the result would be a genuine and accepted > standard. I suspect that the FamilySearch project will have sufficient difficulties coming up with an agreed result. Then we can all explore how it is in use and start the process of cajoling the software vendors to join the party. At that stage it might become appropriate to think further about developing the new GEDCOM standard into an International Standard and I do not think it should be broached seriously yet. -- Tim Powys-Lybbe [email protected] for a miscellany of bygones: http://powys.org/