Stable Schemas, Mutable Software

When you save a document, you should be able to open and edit your documents with any compatible program. Past versions. Future versions. Software written in house, and software written by strangers on the other side of the world.

How do we make our programs do that?

In this talk, I’ll lay out the challenge in front of us. How do we make a file format which can grow and change over time, without coordination between developers? How do we make programs today which can open files that won’t be created for 10 or 100 years, sporting features that haven’t been invented yet? It sounds impossible. Yet Email and HTML have quietly managed it for decades.

I think we can solve this problem. Let’s get the creative juices flowing.