Microsoft's 'open' promise is dangerous for open sourcery
Say the software freedom lawyers
THE ATTORNEYS at the Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC) have published an analysis of Microsoft's Open Specification Promise (OSP), cautioning that it offers no real protection for Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) developers.
Microsoft has associated its OSP with the Microsoft Office Open XML document formats standards proposal (OOXML) submitted to, but not yet approved by, the International Standards Organisation (ISO). Microsoft represents that its OSP will protect alternative implementations of OOXML, such as those that might be developed under the GNU General Public Licence (GPL), from software patents.
However, the SFLC analysis concludes "...that the OSP provides no assurance to GPL developers and that it is unsafe to rely upon the OSP for any free software implementation, whether under the GPL or another free software license."
The SFLC gives three reasons for its rejection of Microsoft's supposedly " open" software patent protection promise:
"Irrevocable but Only for Now -- Because of [the] narrow definition of the covered specifications, no future versions of any of the specifications are guaranteed to be covered under the OSP.
"The OSP Covers Specifications, Not Code -- The OSP will apply to implementations of the specifications, but only to the extent that such code is used to implement the specification.
"No Consistency with the GPL -- The OSP cannot be relied upon by GPL developers for their implementations not because its provisions conflict with GPL, but because it does not provide the freedom that the GPL requires. Relying on the OSP is unsafe because new versions of specifications could be excluded from the OSP and because the resulting code could not safely be used outside a very limited field of use defined by Microsoft. GPL developers, with their special sensitivity to issues of preserving downstream freedom, will be unable to rely on the OSP with confidence."
With regard to the OSP as a factor in ongoing ISO deliberations about whether or not to approve OOXML, the SFLC firmly advises:
"As the final period for consideration of OOXML by ISO elapses, SFLC recommends against the establishment of OOXML as an international standard and cautions GPL implementers not to rely on the OSP."
Promises are made to be broken. Especially the Vole's promises, it would seem. µ
L'Inq
Groklaw
Comments
Thanks to the SFLC
I would like to thank the Software Freedom Law Center for recommending rejection of these Trojan Horses from Microsoft. There is enough oppression and tyranny in the world, and opening up our IT communication pipelines is a great place to start making this a better world to live in. Microsoft cannot be trusted to do this, as a swaggering, loud corporate bully (what a *coincidence*, that also describes its CEO!).