Document standards: Availability and products

With the growth in the spread of computer networks the demand by users for document interchange features is becoming increasingly apparent. The prerequirement for the realization of document interchange in a heterogenous computer environment are internationally accepted standards for the description of documents. Already in early 1986, the Standard Generalized Markup Language SGML was published as an international standard for the structuring of documents. The publication of the Office Document Architecture ODA is expected in the course of 1988. The final text is already available. ODA was originally developed for the pure office environment, whereas the concept for SGML addressed the author/publisher environment. This fact is mirrored in the current pilot projects testing the standards: the manufacturers of office and word-processing systems mainly work with ODA, whereas in the technical scientific and publishing sectors SGML is often implemented. Users requiring an interface both to the office sector as well as to the publishing sector will therefore be confronted with the problems related to working with two different, only partially compatible standards.