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Microsoft Releases Specs for Binary Formats
skolima writes "In response to requests for even easier access to the Binary Formats, Microsoft has agreed to remove any intermediate steps necessary to get the documentation. They're going to just post it, making it directly available as a download on the Microsoft web site. Microsoft will also make the Binary Formats subject to its Open Specification Promise by February 15, 2008. They're even planning to include an Open Source converter implementation."
Yes, I'm they will!
Satan: Why did it just get so cold in here?
And they will even an Open Source converter implementation
i find myself doing this all the time at work now, and it's embarrassing. I leave entire words out of emails, IMs, etc. I never used to do that. I must be getting old.
Many times, I'll leave out a negating word, like "not", causing me to communicate the wrong idea.
Wow! It sounds like Microsoft has seen the light! It's only a matter of time now before they start giving away all their software for free.
Because it ensures that the very real possibility of bitrot for the majority of documents written in the last 15 years is now greatly reduced.
There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order. Starting now.
Wait, what? Brain not comprehending this. Unless TFA is a complete pack of lies, I'm going to have to give tentative applause. Perhaps the only interesting thing I can think of is that "royalty free" != "we won't sue you into oblivion if we think you're trespassing on our patents". Sorry MS, you taught me to be cynical.
Moderation Total: -1 Troll, +3 Goat
Disclaimer:IANAL
The docs are released under MS' own "Open Specification Promise" *cringes*
http://www.microsoft.com/interop/osp/default.mspx
If you do a search on GPL you get:
Q: Is this Promise consistent with open source licensing, namely the GPL? And can anyone implement the specification(s) without any concerns about Microsoft patents?
A: The Open Specification Promise is a simple and clear way to assure that the broadest audience of developers and customers working with commercial or open source software can implement the covered specification(s). We leave it to those implementing these technologies to understand the legal environments in which they operate. This includes people operating in a GPL environment. Because the General Public License (GPL) is not universally interpreted the same way by everyone, we can't give anyone a legal opinion about how our language relates to the GPL or other OSS licenses, but based on feedback from the open source community we believe that a broad audience of developers can implement the specification(s).
I don't get warm and fuzzy feelings reading this and I think that's the idea...
Obama's legacy: (N)othing (S)ecure (A)nywhere and (T)error (S)imulation (A)dministration
...and since this is slashdot, it's not good enough until they've also:
1. refunded all money earned through use of these formats
2. allow people to fork them and then demand that their idiot-forks get recombined into the trunk and incorporated into MS Office 09
3. #2 isn't good enough, Microsoft must even make sure that they are in the next release of OO even though they have nothing to do with that product
4. Clipart of Steve Ballmer throwing chairs is included
5. it is released under the GPLv3 license
6. the EU gets to fine them another trillion euros (with a lower-case e) for every day since 1980 that the formats have not been open
7. none of the above points matter because Microsoft sucks anyway and no one @ slashdot uses MS Office, they all use OO (yea, right!)
so go ahead, mod me down you fuckers.
Note that these specs have been available previously, royalty free, just by e-mailing MS (or so they claim), meaning that anybody who wanted them has got them, or can get them.
The only interesting thing here is the converter they're proposing, assuming nobody beats them to it with a better one.
Even plain ini/text/xml etc. is eventually stored as ones and zeros. And I think I saw a 2...
Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
I'm sure we will find out in a rude way when we bend over to pick up the carrot.
Microsoft is releasing the specs for binary document formats. This will help those who want to support and maintain those formats so this is a gift from Microsoft. Fellow residents of Troy, let us be grateful and embrace this great offering.
or there's no way they'd be doing this. Well, it is Microsoft so there are likely to be some problems. For instance, they could post 10,000 lines of assembly or just plain crappy C code and say, 'there you go, it's open'. Not so bad in itself but not very easy to use none the less.
But what is really probably happening here is that ODF is getting adopted around the world by governments and once you go ODF, it's going to be a tough sell back to the pull-the-rug-out-from-under-your-feet Microsoft way. Anyways, if Microsoft really sees ODF as a credible threat, getting MS Office OXML through ISO is important, very important. But, once they can do that and gain back credibility, there is NOTHING to stop them from releasing software which others are not privy too. ie, change the format and keep everyone else chasing them.
Remember, ISO will not be in control of the changes to the spec, Microsoft will be.
So watch out for this good-guy mask being applied. We've seen nothing to say there isn't anything but the same old Microsoft hiding behind it. And no, I would not accept this as a first step and something to trust. ODF and open access to your own created data is too important to let a simple trick undermine it all. IMO.
LoB
"Anyone who stands out in the middle of a road looks like roadkill to me." --Linus
Don't worry, there's no such thing as 2.
Try opening a word file in the plain text editor of your choice. There's actually a lot of plain text in there, it seems the binary is mostly from formatting (and embedded binary objects - like images).
I've had an occasion or two where a word document got corrupted and office wouldn't fix it. Out of curiosity, I opened it in notepad. I cut out all the formatting bytes, and cleaned up some areas where spaces were added between characters in a section of text (WTF?), and saved the plain text. Nothing of my document was missing (since I didn't have pictures in it or anything like that).
Self proclaimed typo king, and inventor of the bear destroying coffee table (patent not pending).
Wait a second, does this include Exchange? If so, that's huge.
As covered in this link, it appears that most of these specifications have either been removed or documented. What this does mean is that perhaps it will be possible to truly understand what these formatting hooks refer to, not what MS have documented them as referring to...
(Thanks to zmotula for the link)
Is crushing a suspect's child's testicles illegal?
John Yoo: "No, [if] the President thinks he needs to do that."
They must be worried sick about the ISO meeting in February, scheduled for a week after this grand opening. It's make or break time for MS-OOXML.
Meaning there won't be enough time to fully investigate whether these specs are actually useful or just PR BS like every other "Open" thing MS has done. Forgive me for preemptively assuming the latter.
The enemies of Democracy are
"This has to be good. Right ?
/windows/system/explorer.dll /windows/system/kernel.dll
How will this work with specifications that say "render text like Word 98?" Will Microsoft now document how Word 98 renders ?"
I'm sure there'll be some nice documents to tell you exactly how each of these statements work. You know, things like:
1)open file
2)scan for 0x06660666
3)take the next 128 bytes and pass them to winRulesAll(*DWORD) in
4)take the resulting array of 8bit vectors and sequentially call winConvertToBlob[0-255](LoByte(DWORD)) in
5)concatenate the results from those calls and send to sysDecryptWord95Text(URL,*DWORD) in mplayer.dll with URL=http://microsoft.com/secretdoor.asp
6)replace those 128 bytes with the results from the call or, if failed, render text like Word 95.
Easy as pie.
LoB
"Anyone who stands out in the middle of a road looks like roadkill to me." --Linus
The only Notepad specific "file type" is a .LOG text file, where the ASCII '.', 'L', 'O', 'G' is the file magic in the first four characters (might require after, I forget). It appends the date and time whenever you open the file. It's still "ANSI" format, but it does special stuff if it is there.
This Goliath is afraid of his own shadow. This Goliath stomps on any bit of movement in his vicinity. When the wind blows, this Goliath musters all of its mass and vaporized the limb that caused the wind to blow. There is no movement in this game with Goliath, it is not allowed. If this Goliath were in an archery competition, instead of firing an accurate shot, this Goliath would first step on the competitor to eliminate the possibility of anything but his own arrow being shooting toward the target.
As you said, there is no level playing field and businesses need to understand this. Microsoft has for 20 something years prevented many many other companies from providing solutions to businesses using these monster crushing tactics. Unfortunately most don't even know this. They just think that Microsoft got where it is because it had/has the best product(s). Regardless of how it got its size, its use of that size has destroyed many companies who attempted to get products into the desktop computer market place. Same goes for handhelds.
Oh, and if Goliath was in a race to the moon with someone else, they'd just make sure the others in the race couldn't get the parts for their rocket or materials to build the launch pad. Goliath would probably not make it to the moon either. Instead, he would build something which couldn't even escape out atmosphere but since he was the only one in the race, all observers think he is an amazing genius and vastly skilled.
So if the whining somehow opens someones eyes to how bad for everyone Goliath is, then the whining is being productive. People need to know the beast they are funding, the beast they are enabling, the beast they are almost glued to because of their choices in a partnership.
I do agree that there is way too much time wasted in discussions when it would be better spent supporting valid opposition. Talking with fresh college graduates exposed me to the naivety(?) of Microsofts business tactics and what it means to dictating how businesses leverage the IT toolbox. Since showing off better technology seldom gets accepted because of the "everyone else is using Windows" mentality, explaining why their success is limited by Microsoft's market control sometimes opens them up to what all these other tools are and the 'other' value they bring to the table.
LoB
"Anyone who stands out in the middle of a road looks like roadkill to me." --Linus