The Uber-Converter establishes a universal "hub" format that can be translated to or from any of the other formats. This reduces the problem to a simple addition, where each additional format only requires two converters. By connecting to and from the hub format, users of the new format immediately gain rich conversion capabilities with all of the other formats.

Eric Wilhelm, founder of Scratch Computing, started the project over a year ago as a way of making it easier for Open Source developers to connect to existing standards. His reason: "Typical graphics file formats are complicated, so researchers and hobbyists frequently side-step this problem by inventing their own format. Providing a foundation for them to build on allows developers to focus on their unique objective without the result being isolated from the world of existing software."

Charles Moir, CEO of Xara, said "There are numerous vector graphics file standards in existence with pretty poor connectivity between the different formats. It's a problem that all graphics developers face. It's also a huge problem for users and graphics designers. They need more freedom to switch between tools.

So when we heard of Eric's plans we thought this sounded like a good solution. We're happy to sponsor this as Open Source work because it promotes connectivity and that drives the advancement of technology. The very nature of converting between competing formats means it should not be proprietary technology, but an open standard that multiple different contributors can support.

We hope by sponsoring this project to bring some compatibility between the Xara and Inkscape products while at the same time progressing the idea of a universal Open Source vector graphics format converter."

Bryce Harrington, one of the founders of Inkscape, said, "We've been excited to have Eric involved with the Inkscape community, as interoperability with professional drawing programs like Xara is critical for many of our users. It's thrilling to see Xara's sponsorship of Eric's work towards these objectives." Bryce, who works as a performance engineer at OSDL, represents yet another connection between the Portland area and Open Source.

Xara already has an open vector format as used by Xara X. Another is SVG, a W3C standard which has been widely adopted by the Linux community. One of the first goals of this new project is to convert between these two types. Xara has committed $10,000 to sponsor Eric's work on this 'universal vector graphics translator'.

When asked about Xara's interest in the uber-converter project, Eric said, "I'm delighted to have the backing of a commercial software vendor. Users invest a lot of time in creating artwork and other vector graphics data. They need to be able to access that data with multiple programs so that they can use the right tool for the job. There are a lot of great off-the-shelf tools, but the uber-converter also makes it easier to build simple solutions for new problems. It's great to be building truly innovative software and working with Xara, a very forward-thinking company."

Eric setup shop in the Portland area earlier this year with the goal of bringing solutions to small businesses in architecture, engineering, and construction. Part of what attracted him to the area is the amount of OSS activity in and around Portland. "Open Source methods make it possible to reduce development and maintenance costs, which gives small businesses the ability to innovate with custom software," he said.

More information can be found from:

Uber-converter home page: http://scratchcomputing.com/projects/uber-converte r/

Xara X home page: http://www.xara.com/xarax"