Editing OASIS (organization)

{{short description|Global nonprofit consortium}}
{{About|the OASIS organization||Oasis (disambiguation)}}
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{{Infobox organization
| name                     = OASIS Open
| formation                = 1993
| logo                     = Logo OASIS.svg
| founder                  = 
| founded_date             = {{start date and age|1993}}
| type                     = Global [[Nonprofit organization|nonprofit]] [[consortium]]
| status                   = [[501(c)(6)]]
| tax_id                   = 25-1720375
| location                 = [[Woburn, Massachusetts]], [[United States]]
| key_people               = 
| focus                    = [[Open standard]] [[Open source]]
| headquarters             = Woburn, MA
| products                 = 
| staff                    = 12<ref name="staffNumber">{{cite web|url=https://www.oasis-open.org/staff|title=Staff|access-date=August 10, 2015}}</ref>
| website                  = {{Official URL}}
}}

The '''Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards''' ('''OASIS'''; {{IPAc-en|oʊ|ˈ|eɪ|.|s|ɪ|s}}) is a [[Nonprofit organization|nonprofit]] [[consortium]] that works on the development, convergence, and adoption of projects - both [[open standards]] and [[open source]] - for [[computer security]], [[blockchain]], [[Internet of things]] (IoT), [[emergency management]], [[cloud computing]], [[Legal Electronic Data Exchange Standard|legal data exchange]], [[Computer energy efficiency|energy]], [[Content management|content technologies]], and other areas.<ref>{{Cite web|title=About Us|url=https://www.oasis-open.org/org/|access-date=2020-11-25|website=OASIS Open|language=en-US}}</ref>

== History ==
[[File:Office entrance (02).jpg|thumbnail|Entrance of the OASIS office at Burlington, Massachusetts.]]
OASIS was founded under the name "SGML Open" in 1993. It began as a trade association of Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML) tool vendors to cooperatively promote the adoption of SGML through mainly educational activities, though some amount of technical activity was also pursued including an update of the [[CALS Table Model]] specification and specifications for fragment interchange and entity management.<ref name="about">{{cite web|url=https://www.oasis-open.org/org|title=About Us|access-date=August 10, 2015}}</ref>

In 1998, with the movement of the industry to [[XML]], SGML Open changed its emphasis from SGML to XML, and changed its name to OASIS Open to be inclusive of XML and reflect an expanded scope of technical work and standards. The focus of the consortium's activities also moved from promoting adoption (as XML was getting much attention on its own) to developing technical specifications. In July 2000 a new technical committee process was approved. With the adoption of the process the manner in which technical committees were created, operated, and progressed their work was regularized. At the adoption of the process there were five technical committees; by 2004 there were nearly 70{{Citation needed|date=July 2024}}.

During 1999, OASIS was approached by [[UN/CEFACT]], the committee of the [[United Nations]] dealing with standards for business, to jointly develop a new set of specifications for electronic business. The joint initiative, called "[[ebXML]]" and which first met in November 1999, was chartered for a three-year period. At the final meeting under the original charter, in Vienna, UN/CEFACT and OASIS agreed to divide the remaining work between the two organizations and to coordinate the completion of the work through a coordinating committee. In 2004 OASIS submitted its completed ebXML specifications to [[ISO]] TC154 where they were approved as ''ISO 15000''.

The consortium has its headquarters in [[Woburn, Massachusetts]], shared with other companies. In December 2020, OASIS moved to its current location, 400 TradeCenter Drive. Previous office locations include 25 Corporate Drive Suite 103 and 35 Corporate Drive, Suite 150, both in Burlington, MA.<ref name="location">{{cite web |title=OASIS Headquarters Moving |url=https://lists.oasis-open.org/archives/members/201408/msg00007.html |access-date=August 10, 2015}}</ref>

== Standards development ==

The following standards are under development or maintained by OASIS technical committees:
* [[Advanced Message Queuing Protocol|AMQP]] — Advanced Message Queuing Protocol, an application layer protocol for [[message-oriented middleware]].
* BCM — Business Centric-Methodology, BCM is a comprehensive approach and proven techniques that enable a [[service-oriented architecture]] (SOA) and support enterprise agility and interoperability.
* [[Content Assembly Mechanism|CAM]] — Content Assembly Mechanism, is a generalized assembly mechanism for using templates of XML business transaction content and the associated rules. CAM templates augment schema syntax and provide implementers with the means to specify interoperable interchange patterns.
* [[Cloud Application Management for Platforms|CAMP]] — Cloud Application Management for Platforms, is an API for managing public and private cloud applications.
* [[Common Alerting Protocol|CAP]] — Common Alerting Protocol, is an XML-based data format for exchanging public warnings and emergencies between alerting technologies.
* [[Common Security Advisory Framwork|CSAF]] — Common Security Advisory Framework, is the definitive reference for the language which supports creation, update, and interoperable exchange of security advisories as structured information on products, vulnerabilities and the status of impact and remediation among interested parties.
* [[Customer Data Platform|CDP]] — Customer Data Platform, is a specification that aims to standardize the exchange of customer data across systems and silos by defining a web-based API using GraphQL.
* [[Content Management Interoperability Services|CMIS]] — Content Management Interoperability Services, is a domain model and Web services standard for working with Enterprise content management repositories and systems.
* [[EDXL#Customer Information Quality|CIQ]] — Customer Information Quality, is an XML Specifications for defining, representing, interoperating and managing party information (e.g. name, address).
* [[DocBook]] — DocBook, a markup language for technical documentation. It was originally intended for authoring technical documents related to computer hardware and software but it can be used for any other sort of documentation.
* [[Darwin Information Typing Architecture|DITA]] — Darwin Information Typing Architecture, a modular and extensible XML-based language for topic-based information, such as for online help, documentation, and training.
* [[Election Markup Language|EML]] — Election Markup Language, End to End information standards and processes for conducting democratic elections using XML-based information recording.
* [[EDXL]] — Emergency Data Exchange Language, Suite of XML-based messaging standards that facilitate emergency information sharing between government entities and the full range of emergency-related organizations
* GeoXACML — Geospatial eXtensible Access Control Markup Language, a geo-specific extension to [[XACML]] Version 2.0, mainly the geometric data-type ''urn:ogc:def:dataType:geoxacml:1.0:geometry'' and several geographic functions such as topological, bag, set, geometric and conversion functions.
* [[Key Management Interoperability Protocol|KMIP]] — The Key Management Interoperability Protocol tries to establish a single, comprehensive protocol for the communication between enterprise key management systems and encryption systems.
* [[Legal XML]] Legal Document ML ([[Akoma Ntoso]]), LegalRuleML, Electronic Court Filing, and eNotarization standards.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Flatt |first1=Amelie |title=Model-Driven Development of Akoma Ntoso Application Profiles - A Conceptual Framework for Model-Based Generation of XML Subschemas |last2=Langner |first2=Arne |last3=Leps |first3=Olof |publisher=Sprinter Nature |year=2022 |isbn=978-3-031-14131-7 |edition=1st |location=Heidelberg |language=en}}</ref>
* [[MQTT]] — Message Queuing Telemetry Transport, a client-server, publish/subscribe messaging transport protocol. It is lightweight, open, simple, and designed to be easy to implement. These characteristics make it ideal for use in many situations, including constrained environments such as for communication in [[machine to machine]] (M2M) and [[Internet of Things]] (IoT) contexts where a small code footprint is required and/or network bandwidth is at a premium.
* [[oBIX]] — open Building Information Exchange, an extensible XML specification for enterprise interaction with building-based (or other) control systems, including HVAC, Access Control, Intrusion Detection, and many others.
*[[Open Data Protocol|OData]] — Open Data Protocol (OData), ''Simplifying data sharing across disparate applications in enterprise, Cloud, and mobile devices.''
* [[OpenDocument]] — OASIS Open Document Format for Office Applications, an open document file format for saving office documents such as spreadsheets, memos, charts, and presentations.
* [[OSLC]] — Open Services for Lifecycle Collaboration, (OSLC) develops standards that make it easy and practical for software lifecycle tools to share data with one another.
* [[PKCS 11|PKCS #11]] - PKCS #11 standard defines a platform-independent [[Application programming interface|API]] to [[cryptographic token]]s, such as [[hardware security module]]s (HSM) and [[smart cards]], and names the API itself "Cryptoki" (from "cryptographic token interface" and pronounced as "crypto-key" - but "PKCS #11" is often used to refer to the API as well as the standard that defines it).
* [[Security Assertion Markup Language|SAML]] — Security Assertion Markup Language, a standard [[XML]]-based framework for the secure exchange of [[authentication]] and [[authorization]] information.
* [[Static Analysis Results Interchange Format|SARIF]] - Static Analysis Results Interchange Format, a standard [[JSON]]-based format for the output of [[static program analysis|static analysis]] tools.
* [[Solution Deployment Descriptor|SDD]] — Solution Deployment Descriptor, a standard [[XML]]-based schema defining a standardized way to express software installation characteristics required for lifecycle management in a multi-platform environment.
* [[SPML]] — Service Provisioning Markup Language, a standard [[XML]]-based protocol for the integration and interoperation of [[service provisioning]] requests.
* [[Structured Threat Information eXpression|STIX]] - Structured Threat Information eXpression, a language for expressing cyber threat and observable information.
* [[Trusted Automated eXchange of Indicator Information|TAXII]] - Trusted Automated eXchange of Indicator Information, an application layer protocol for the communication of cyber threat information in a simple and scalable manner.
* [[OASIS TOSCA|TOSCA]] — Topology and Orchestration Specification for Cloud Applications, a Standard to describe cloud services, the relationships between parts of the service, and the operational behavior of the services.
* [[Universal Business Language|UBL]] — Universal Business Language, the international effort to define a royalty-free library of standard electronic business documents (purchase order, invoice, waybill, etc.) in XML. UBL 2.1 was approved as ISO/IEC 19845:2015. UBL serves as the basis for numerous electronic commerce networks and implementations worldwide.
* [[Universal Description Discovery and Integration|UDDI]] — Universal Description Discovery and Integration, a [[platform-independent]], [[XML]]-based registry for companies and individuals to list [[Web Services]].
* [[Computer Graphics Metafile|WebCGM]] — Web Computer Graphics Metafile, a profile of [[Computer Graphics Metafile]] (CGM), which adds Web linking and is optimized for Web applications in technical illustration, electronic documentation, geophysical data visualization, and similar fields.
* [[WS-BPEL]] — Web Services Business Process Execution Language
* [[Web Services Distributed Management|WSDM]] — Web Services Distributed Management
* [[XACML]] — eXtensible Access Control Markup Language, a standard [[XML]]-based protocol for access control policies.
* [[XDI]] — XRI Data Interchange, a standard for sharing, linking, and synchronizing data ("[[Data Web|dataweb]]") across multiple domains and applications using [[XML]] documents, eXtensible Resource Identifiers (XRIs), and a new method of distributed data control called a [[link contract]].
* [[XLIFF]] — XML Localization Interchange File Format, a [[XML]]-based format created to standardize [[Internationalization and localization|localization]].
* [[XRI]] — eXtensible Resource Identifier, a [[Uniform Resource Identifier|URI]]-compatible scheme and resolution protocol for abstract identifiers used to identify and share resources across domains and applications.

== Members ==
Adhesion to the consortium requires some fees to be paid, which must be renewed annually, depending on the membership category adherents want to access.<ref name="feesCategories">{{cite web|url=https://www.oasis-open.org/join/categories-dues|title=Categories and Dues |website= OASIS|access-date=August 10, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905102253/https://www.oasis-open.org/join/categories-dues |archive-date= Sep 5, 2015 }}</ref> Among the adherents are members from [[Dell]], [[IBM]], [[International Organization for Standardization|ISO/IEC]], [[Cisco|Cisco Systems]], [[KDE e.V.]], [[Microsoft]], [[Oracle Corporation|Oracle]], [[Red Hat]], [[The Document Foundation]], universities, government agencies, individuals and employees from other less-known companies.<ref name="adherents">{{cite web|url=https://www.oasis-open.org/committees/membership.php?wg_abbrev=office|title=OASIS Open Document Format for Office Applications (OpenDocument) TC Technical Committee |website=OASIS Open |access-date=August 10, 2015}}</ref><ref name="controversy1">{{cite web|url=http://archive09.linux.com/articles/42956|title=Larry Rosen et al. vs. OASIS on licensing|date=22 February 2005 |first1=Tina |last1=Gasperson |website=Linux.com :: Forum Index |access-date=10 August 2015|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304100722/http://archive09.linux.com/articles/42956|url-status=dead}}</ref>

== Member sections ==
Member sections are special interest groups within the consortium that focus on specific topics. These sections keep their own distinguishable identity and have full autonomy to define their work program and agenda.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Member Section Policy {{!}} OASIS|url=https://www.oasis-open.org/policies-guidelines/member-sections|access-date=2020-07-19|website=www.oasis-open.org}}</ref> The integration of the member section in the standardization process is organized via the technical committees.

Active member sections are for example:

* [[Legal XML]]
* IDTrust

Member sections may be completed when they have achieved their objectives. The standards that they promoted are then maintained by the relevant technical committees directly within OASIS. For example:

* [[Advanced Message Queuing Protocol|AMQP]]
* [[Web Services Interoperability|WS-I]]

== Patent disclosure controversy ==
Like many bodies producing [[open standards]] e.g. [[Ecma International|ECMA]],<ref name="randEcma">{{cite web|url=http://www.ecma-international.org/memento/codeofconduct.htm|title=Ecma Code of Conduct in Patent Matters|date=1 December 2009|access-date=10 August 2015}}</ref> OASIS added a [[Reasonable and non-discriminatory licensing]] (RAND) clause to its policy in February 2005.<ref name="controversy1" /> That amendment required participants to [[Invention disclosure|disclose]] intent to apply for [[software patent]]s for technologies under consideration in the standard. Contrary to the [[W3C]], which requires participants to offer [[royalty-free]] [[license]]s to anyone using the resulting standard, OASIS offers a similar Royalty Free on Limited Terms mode, along with a Royalty Free on RAND Terms mode and a RAND (reasonable and non-discriminatory) mode for its committees. Compared to W3C, OASIS is less restrictive regarding obligation to companies to grant a royalty-free license to the patents they own.<ref name="policy">{{cite web|title=Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Policy |url=https://www.oasis-open.org/policies-guidelines/ipr|work=OASIS |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240208032621/https://www.oasis-open.org/policies-guidelines/ipr/ |archive-date= Feb 8, 2024 }}</ref>

Controversy has rapidly arisen<ref name="controversy2">{{cite web|last=Sheriff|first=Lucy|title=OASIS open standards not open enough· The Register |website=[[The Register]] |url=https://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/02/23/oasis_patent_policy/ |date=February 23, 2005}}</ref> because this licensing was added silently and allows publication of standards which could require licensing fee payments to patent holders. This situation could effectively eliminate the possibility of [[free software|free]]/[[open source software|open source]] implementations of these standards. Further, contributors could initially offer royalty-free use of their patent, later imposing per-unit fees, after the standard has been accepted.

On April 11, 2005, ''[[The New York Times]]'' reported [[IBM]] committed, for free, all of its patents to the OASIS group.<ref name="ibmFreePatent">{{cite web|url=https://www.ietf.org/mail-archive/web/ipr-wg/current/msg02982.html|title=No RAND in OASIS|date=5 April 2005|access-date=10 August 2015}}</ref> Larry Rosen, a software law expert and the leader of the reaction which rose up when OASIS quietly included a RAND clause in its policy, welcomed the initiative and supposed OASIS will not continue using that policy as other companies involved would follow. The RAND policy has still not been removed and other commercial companies have not published such a free statement towards OASIS.{{Citation needed|date=July 2024}}

Patrick Gannon, president and CEO of OASIS from 2001 to 2008,<ref name="patrickGannon">{{cite web|url=https://www.oasis-open.org/committees/download.php/46059/Gannon-Bio-201205.pdf|title=Bio –Patrick J. Gannon|date=1 May 2012|access-date=10 August 2015}}</ref> minimized the risk that a company could take advantage of a standard to request royalties when it has been established, saying "If it's an option nobody uses, then what's the harm?"{{Citation needed|date=July 2024}}.

Sam Hiser, former marketing lead of the now defunct [[OpenOffice.org]], explained that such patents towards an open standard are counterproductive and inappropriate. He also argued that [[IBM]] and [[Microsoft]] were shifting their standardization efforts from the [[W3C]] to OASIS, in a way to leverage probably their patents portfolio in the future. Hiser also attributed this RAND change to the OASIS policy to Microsoft.<ref name="controversy3">{{cite web|last=Lyman|first=Jay|title=Linux.com :: OASIS: Meaningful open standards or mirage?|url=http://archive09.linux.com/articles/45151|date=May 24, 2005|access-date=June 27, 2013|archive-date=March 20, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150320084808/http://archive09.linux.com/articles/45151|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The RAND term could indeed allow any company involved to leverage their patent in the future, but that amendment was probably added in a way to attract more companies to the consortium, and encourage contributions from potential participants.{{Opinion|date=July 2024}} Big actors like Microsoft could have indeed applied pressure and made a sine-qua-non condition to access the consortium, and possibly jeopardize/boycott the standard if such a clause was not present.

== Criticism ==
Doug Mahugh — while working for Microsoft (a promoter of [[Office Open XML]], a Microsoft document format competing with OASIS's [[OpenDocument|ISO/IEC 26300]], i.e. ODF v1.0) — claimed that "many countries have expressed frustration about the pace of OASIS's responses to defect reports that have been submitted on ISO/IEC 26300 and the inability for [[ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 34|SC 34]] members to participate in the maintenance of ODF."<ref name="odfCriticism">{{cite web|last=Mahugh|first=Doug|title=SC 34 Plenary, Jeju, Korea - Doug Mahugh - Site Home - MSDN Blogs |url=http://blogs.msdn.com/b/dmahugh/archive/2008/10/01/sc-34-plenary-jeju-korea.aspx |date=October 1, 2008|access-date=June 27, 2013}}</ref> However, Rob Weir, co-chair of the OASIS [[ODF]] Technical Committee noted that at the time, "the ODF TC had received zero defect reports from any ISO/IEC national body other than Japan". He added that the submitter of the original Japanese defect report, Murata Mokoto, was satisfied with the preparation of the errata.<ref name="satisfactionOdfErrata">{{cite web|url=https://lists.oasis-open.org/archives/office-comment/200809/msg00023.html|title=Further comment on ODF_1.0_Errata_draft_3|access-date=August 10, 2015}}</ref> He also self-published a blog post blaming Microsoft of involving people to improve and modify the accuracy of ODF and OpenXML Wikipedia articles.<ref name="odfReport">{{cite web|last=Weir|first=Robert|title=ODF Lies and Whispers|url=http://www.robweir.com/blog/2009/06/odf-lies-and-whispers.html|date=June 9, 2009|access-date=June 27, 2013}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[UIMA]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{Official website}}
* {{ProPublicaNonprofitExplorer|251720375}}

{{OASIS Standards}}

{{authority control}}

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