Posted by: Anonymous Coward
on July 29, 2005 04:27 AM
"Fortunately, Microsoft is moving to XML and, unless they try to play the patent lawsuit threat here, "secret" proprietary file formats will become a thing of the past."
The MS XML format is neither Free nor Open.
- Not Free: The no cost patent license denies license transfer which is incompatible with GPL and other Freedom-based licenses.
- Not Open: The XML format contains binary "blobs" or binary members the contents of which are not documented. So they can still hide things and make reverse engineering necessary and difficult, even if the patent was not there. The secret is still secret.
The MS XML format was a marketing coup for MS. Prevent license transfers and hide format information while telling the world the format is Open.
Learn about Linux
Download Linux
Get Linux help
Not Free or Open XML
Posted by: Anonymous Coward on July 29, 2005 04:27 AMThe MS XML format is neither Free nor Open.
- Not Free: The no cost patent license denies license transfer which is incompatible with GPL and other Freedom-based licenses.
- Not Open: The XML format contains binary "blobs" or binary members the contents of which are not documented. So they can still hide things and make reverse engineering necessary and difficult, even if the patent was not there. The secret is still secret.
The MS XML format was a marketing coup for MS. Prevent license transfers and hide format information while telling the world the format is Open.
Bah!
#