Open Standards

A winner or a loser?

Terence Mac Goff, 3rd June 2004

Contents

• Introduction

• What is an open standard?

• Who sets open standards?

• Why are they used in localisation?

• OpenTag, XLIFF, TMX and TBX

• Some quick demonstrations

• Summary

• Discussion

What is an Open Standard?

• Open standards are publicly available specifications for enhancing compatibility between various hardware and software components. Open standards allow anybody with the technical know-how and the necessary equipment to implement solutions which work together with those of other vendors.

So where did they come from?

• Several organisations ANSI – American National Standards

Institute ISO – International Standards

Organisation ECMA – European Standards institute MILSPEC Early languages such as FORTRAN

and ADA were written to provide platforms for developers independent of hardware used.

Many more

Early open standards bodies

• Concentrated on measurements Its pretty important to know how long a

metre is Its also important to know what time it

really is...

• Concentrated on mechanical issues What is a 40mm x 8 screw? What is a “Philips” screw head?

• What depth are the cuts?

• The industrial revolution! Interoperability of products Multiple suppliers Closed standards die off!

Progression..

• So about computers then…• Early standards revolved around

interoperability Driven by MILSPEC ISO text file formats EBCDIC text file formats Programming languages (FORTRAN,

ADA)

• Hardware standards later evolved PSUs Slot pinouts Memory components VHS vs BetaMax

The Internet

• The internet is perhaps the best example of how open standards work… TCP/IP HTTP HTML XML NNTP SMTP POP IMAP

• Are all open standards, supported by software companies worldwide

So why Localization?

• Translation memories have become critical to the business case for localisation

• Product generation cycles have shortened dramatically

• Memories need to be re-used across multiple platforms XML HTML Traditional publishing environments CMS systems

• Open standards provide a level playing field Tools competitors can concentrate on innovation

Standards that are now available

• Open standards OpenTag XLIFF TMX TBX XML Properties

• Closed standards Trados TXT format TRADOStag TTX format

• Closed standards promote inertia Open standards promote competition

So what’s out there?

• OpenTag Initial standards focused on the

conversion process XL8, Joust, S-Tagger, and ILE’s tools all

focused on extracting text to formats that could be used with the TM tools of the time.• HTML, FrameMaker, Interleaf, RTF etc.

The extracted text could then be translated, and re-integrated to the source files to produce a translated file

This was supposed to drive interoperability at the TM tool level, as the OpenTag format was freely available

Diagram of a traditional authoring process

Content Creation Content Delivery

HTML/Web pages

Online Help

Printed material

Marketing Material

Other Documents Types

Translation& Output

Artwork

Authoring

Translation

Output

OpenTag

• It provided an elegant framework for the extraction and re-generation of text in to localised files

• It allowed for a common format for extracted content

• Did not succeed, as each tool used its own specific internal formats and there was no business need to re-write internal storage routines

XLIFF

XLIFF

• XLIFF was designed to provide enhanced functionality to OpenTAG and its ilk

• The goal was to produce a format which would allow a file to be process and tool independent Same file can be used in multiple localisation tools A self referential file

• Different vocabularies available Support most common formats for software and UA

• Allows a tools supplier to work with XLIFF files, while maintaining their internal formats

XLIFF

• So it gives the following benefits It allows developers of custom solutions to

output localisable content to a structured format• Allows people to output from proprietary Content

Systems to a common platform It provides a common platform for rich

contextual information to be embedded in translatable files• Information such as sizing information etc.

It provides a common platform for developers to support with their tools

It’s based on open standards formats (XML)

XLIFF

• But ……… Most TM tools can treat it as any other XML

• The unique features of the format are not heavily used

It can be a Sledgehammer to crack a nut It provides a good platform for developers to

develop export technology for Has been mostly superseded in the mainstream

market for most applications by XML with enhanced properties

Most tool suppliers have extended the utility of their products in regard to XML to make it much more informative and user friendly• Will demo this later as an example

TMX

So why do we need TMX?

TMs cost money to generate and maintain across multiple projects

Many clients view them in the same way as capital investment• A certain value is placed on each word• A certain value must be extracted from each word

over a period of time• It’s expected that the value of a word in a TM will

fall over time

Translation memories are the property of the client so the format should be usable in any tools that the client wishes to use

Therefore, TMX is a solution to a commercial problem…

TMX

• A good example is in an integrated Content Management system environment….

An integrated Content System

TMX

• The purpose of TMX is to allow easier exchange of translation memory data between tools and/or translation vendors with little or no loss of critical data during the process

• TMX provides an open specification for the storage of translation memories

• The format is clearly documented

• The format also incorporates a verifiable third party testing scheme

So how does TMX work?

Proprietary TMDatabase

Tool A

RTF

TMXDocument

Proprietary TMDatabase

Tool B

HTML

TMX

• Too many companies are locked into proprietary solutions High cost of maintenance Restricts choice of tools and suppliers

• TMX allows tools suppliers to compete on features and function of the product, rather than locking users into proprietary tools and formats

• TMX is expanding its acceptance rapidly

• It will succeed because it addresses a commercial need!

TBX

TBX

• TBX® stands for TermBase eXchange

• TBX is a terminological markup framework

• TBX is maintained by OSCAR

• The TBX specification is free

• But why TBX?

TBX

• TBX allows greater flexibility than source <-> target text files

• Facilitates more straightforward exchange of extended attributes

• Provides greater ease of use than Excel files in a TM environment

• Allows for easy import/export of term information

• Vitally important for a CMS orientated localisation system

So a few demonstrations of what we have been talking about

Conclusion

Open Standards

• Open standards are here to stay Gaining wide acceptance New features in TM tools may have an impact on the

innovation and uptake of XLIFF for certain formats Support for TMX growing rapidly New TMX standard available which addresses

segmentation (1.4b) Customer demand for vendor independence is

growing The tools market has widened considerably with the

advent of GMS/CMS systems• Requirement for easy migration pathways

TM tool providers are now implementing the same standards• Focus can shift back to innovation and features

Discussion