Microsoft Receives Open Source VIP Blessing

* * Beatles-Beatles writes to let us know that Larry Rosen has given his blessing to the new terms that Microsoft is Making their Office XML Reference Schema available under. Rosen, "the attorney that wrote the book on open source licensing and the man who was the Open Source Initiative's first general counsel and secretary," described this move as the "most significant olive branch to date" to come from the Redmond software giant.

Comments

Re:Isn't XML readable anyways?

[oneandoneis2]

Take a look at Groklaw's comparison of XML formats and tell me if you think MS's XML is human-readable! :o)

Re:Submitter is a link spammer-stop posting his st

[snero3]

You definitely have a point there. Might be something taco should look into? But just remember your point always has more impact when you sign your post with your name and not just AC.

If you believe in it stand up for it don't just hide in the back ground.

Re:Since when...

[blane.bramble]

The original company name is MicroSoft, hence the abbreviation to MS. Go look at some old MS products, and you will see the original logo.

Re:Submitter is a link spammer-stop posting his st

[BarryNorton]

OK, I take it back - here's the one I could find that wasn't approved by ScuttleMonkey:

FEC Deciding Future of Political Blogs

Here are the ones (currently indexed by Google) that were:

Wifi Camera Uploads without Computer

Microsoft Adopts Virtual Licenses

Cisco Updates Network Security Technology

Google and Oregon Launch Open Source Initiative

Open-Source Insurance

Archaeological [sic] Uncovers a New Name

New Server Chip Niagara

Sprint Launchings Music to Mobile Downloads

MIT Wireless Campus Tracking Users

Consumer Friendly Downloads?

Paris Accelerates Move to Open Source

You are correct, Sir

[Tony]

As I understand it (imperfectly, for sure) there are legaly significant differences between the XML schema for Office 2003 and the upcoming Office 12.

There are major differences, both technically and legally, between MS-Office 2003 XML and MS-Office 12 XML. Microsoft is submitting the MS-Office 2003 XML schema to ECMA; so far, they have not indicated they are doing the same with the MSO 12 schema. Also, their covenant not to sue over patents is specific to the 2003 schema. Finally, the 2003 xml schema is optional; it's my understanding that the MSO 12 schema is the primary format for the upcoming version of MS-Office.

Microsoft loses nothing by offering up the 2003 schema as a sacrificial lamb; most people still use .doc as their primary format within MS-Office. Near as I can tell, Microsoft is merely trying to cloud the issue in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Of course, I could be wrong. But I don't think so.