7.2. Data Freedom within QOF

Exchanging data is not just exchanging a document or sharing a file. Users need more than simply passing data as a file between applications. This is useful but requires both programs to be locked into the one shared format.

Exchanging data is more than asking a procedure to provide a fixed data result. Users need more than a fixed result. Calling a specific function in a specific CORBA or RPC compatible program will only give the result designed by the original developer. If the user wants data that is not specifically supported by the RPC calls, the data is inaccessible.

Data-centric model. Data should be available on-demand to whichever process can use it. QOF provides an engine that can work with multiple front ends and multiple backends, with the same data being mapped or translated between them. Each backend is generic and part of QOF. Therefore any program that can exchange data with QOF can use whichever backend is suitable. Any other QOF compatible program can read the data, even if it doesn't use that backend normally. This increases platform independence, data accessibility and program flexibility.