I joined OCLC on the team that implemented it, just as the project was winding down. I brought it up more as a cautionary tale rather than a serious suggestion; the problem isn't that no one has looked into the file format problem -- the problem is that too many have approached it, without coming to a compelling combination of "rough consensus and running code." [1]

-- Steve

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_D._Clark


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Code for Libraries [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
> Gary McGath
> Sent: Friday, November 02, 2012 4:50 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] Just Solve the File Format Problem month: can
> you help?
> 
> On 11/2/12 3:57 PM, Huwig,Steve wrote:
> > You also missed this one...
> >
> > http://gdfr.info
> 
> Did you actually find anything useful there? That project died without
> really accomplishing anything.
> 
> I was one of the people working on it and have to share some of the
> blame. There were communication problems between Harvard and OCLC, as
> well as an over-ambitious design, and we just never got anything
> working.
> 
> 
> --
> Gary McGath, Professional Software Developer
> http://www.garymcgath.com