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When Should File Formats Be Placed in the Public Domain?

Posted by michael on from the trick-question dept.

wccwcc writes "A lot has been said about file formats and standards creating network effects and huge profits. That said, is there a time when file formats should enter the public domain, or is it ok for companies to sit on them forever. These are some ideas on when and how file formats should enter the public domain, just like trademarks do when they become "generic"."

2 of 290 comments (clear)

  1. How about Tuesday? by AintTooProudToBeg · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Works for me.

  2. Maybe next year... by xod · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Inspired by this post I downloaded OpenOffice and installed it on my stock Mandrake 8.2, and watched the install go just fine except it couldn't create any of the symlinks...the permissions were ok, but it seemed as if there was a space in one of the script variables. No problem, I can make my own symlinks.

    So I fetched an MS Word document and watched it dump core as it tried to read it.