[WF-Protocols] Design Goals

[Matze Braun]

On Thu, 3 Jul 2003, Aglanor wrote:

> Ok, I've re-written the goals taking into accounts the comments since
> yesterday:
> 
> Design Goals:
> 
> 	* A format for interchange of model data. The main criteria of decision
> should be interchangeability, above others such as efficiency.
> 
> 	* Must be free and open. Must be independent from platform and SDK.
> 	
> 	* Must be scalable: new features added to the standard should not break
> backwards compatibility. Applications should ignore features they don't
> understand.
> 
> 	* Should be easy to implement, read and write.
> 
> 	* Oriented to rendering engines and model tools. Specifically, it is
> not intended for complex editors.
> 
These goals are fine IMO.

> *****************************
> 
> 	If everyone more or less agree with the former goals, there is only one
> point left to decide: extensibility. Should we allow third parties to
> add extensions to the format? 
> 
> 	<IMHO>I think extensibility is a needed thing, not everyone will be
> happy with what we provide so this could give the means to add the
> needed extra functionality. Most standards out there are not "locked",
> but allow extensions, as long as they are marked as such, and that the
> data is usable without the extensions.</IMHO>
I think we should allow extensions, but
	-don't define any official extensions. Everything we define 
	 should be normal part of the spec.
	-if extensions popup then we should imediately discuss what causes 
	 the need for these extensions, and how we could cleanly add them 
	 to the a new version of the spec if appropriate.

Greetings,
	Matze