- From: Daniel Phillips <phillips@bonn-fries.net>
- Date: Mon, 1 Oct 2001 22:28:16 +0200
- To: Thomas Strauss <thst@strauss-it.de>, www-patentpolicy-comment@w3.org
On October 1, 2001 09:39 pm, Thomas Strauss wrote: > To come back on-topic: W3C Standards must be open and free to implement > for anyone. If you want your patented technology become widespread: > Promote it. This is your job. Adobe did that very succesfully by > endorsing many platforms and opening up the internal standards. > Macromedia Flash is another example, though they made it without opening > the internals. The swf (shockwave flash) file format has been publicly documented by Adobe, though perhaps not the more recent versions. I downloaded and compiled a GPLed client last week that does function reasonably well in Mozilla. Content creation software is available from sources other than Adobe, some of it free. This seems too easy. I can't help feeling that we're being led into a trap. Is Adobe waiting for us to become dependent on swf before emerging from the woodwork with patent-backed license fee demands as Unisys did with gif? If not, then what guarantee do we have of that? What is Adobe's official position in this matter? What guarantee is Adobe willing to provide? Is Adobe one of the companies that stands to benefit from this new, patent-encumbered internet regime? -- Daniel
Received on Monday, 1 October 2001 16:28:31 UTC