Re: Regarding OOXML and Microsoft patents

[Rui Miguel Silva Seabra <rms 1407 org>]

On Fri, Jul 13, 2007 at 04:47:23PM -0400, Miguel de Icaza wrote:
> > Here in Portugal, in the OOXML fake-standard debate, the position of
> > Free Softwar activists has been that it's impossible to fully implement,
> > or might even be downright illegal to do it independently, closed formats.
> 
> Well, neither OOXML nor ODF have been fully implemented by third party
> implementations beyond the products they originated with.   

Fully irrelevant, since in one case it's mere workload, and in the other
case it's double the workload + restricted information + mathmatical and
date errors.

> But there is a case of being "good enough", very much in the same way
> that say that the Linux kernel was a good enough implementation of the
> Unix API that it allowed Unix apps to be ran with that kernel.
> 
> Another example is CSS2: there are no browser that can claim 100% CSS
> compatibility or with any other combination of Web standards, it is not
> the end of the world if you do not pass the Acid test for CSS.   It
> would be nice, but it is not mandatory to get the job done.

Unlike OOXML, CSS2 is fully royalty free, please compare apple with
apples, instead of apples with oranges.

> > True standards can't rely on hidden information (with special agreements
> > that need to be signed with Microsoft for certain parts of OOXML,
> > as has been found in a document Microsoft was forced to disclose in Spain).
> 
> Which information is this?    There have been accusations made about
> this hidden information, but they have turned out to be bogus.

Really?

What patents are involved? Can you list them for us since you seem to
know? How does Microsoft's attitude towards patents compare with
http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/office/ipr.php ?

MS Word 2000 Table Style Rules, can you point them out?

> The closest I have heard of were the OLE tags for embedding OLE objects,
> and those are present in ODF as well.

Funny to see you campaining for Microsoft's fake-standard, or are you
"Miguel de Icaza" the slashdot troll? It's always hard to tell when you
don't digitally sign messages...

So I keep wondering.

Rui

-- 
Hail Eris!
Today is Prickle-Prickle, the 48th day of Confusion in the YOLD 3173
+ No matter how much you do, you never do enough -- unknown
+ Whatever you do will be insignificant,
| but it is very important that you do it -- Gandhi
+ So let's do it...?