On 5/25/06, Joao S. O. Bueno Calligaris <gwidion@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Just missing the deadline for a SoC sponsored plugin for it,
microsoft released the specs for their new image file format here:
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/xps/wmphoto.mspx
I di dnot download it, bu I read the agreement for ownlaoding it. One
keep his soul and his mother in doing so. I mean- there is no nasty
NDA, it seems possible to implement a free software as fara s
copyright issues stand, for reading and writing the beast - but the
nDA says that software patents involving that owned by MS still
apply.
They announce a lot of miracles for this format, and it would be nice
to be able to read and write to it if half of then hold true.
They lost me with the first sentence of the first clause:
You may review these Materials only (a) as a reference to assist You
in planning and designing Your product, service or technology
("Product") to interface with a Microsoft product, specification,
service or technology ("Microsoft Product") as described in these
Materials; and (b) to provide feedback on these Materials to
Microsoft.
Talk about a viral license! If you design your own format that uses
features similar to this format, you're breaking the agreement. Or if
you do a review of it. Etc.
Hypocritically, while Microsoft gives you no patent license, if you
make a suggestion to them, they automatically get a patent license
from you. Really, the lack of patent licenses is very disturbing,
especially given MS's anti-GPL stance.
Oh, and oddly enough, if you read this spec as part of your job and
the company you work for gets bought out, you have to agree to destroy
all your copies of the specification. That's fun.
All I can say is that it's too bad that the text box that the license
shows up in isn't editable. :)
Rockwalrus
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