Developers Warned over OOXML Patent Risk

Tendraes brings us a story about legal experts who are warning that Microsoft's "covenant not to sue" over use of the OOXML specification is both ambiguous and untested. Developers wishing to make use of OOXML are unlikely to understand the complex legal language of the Open Specification Promise, and such a document - being neither a release nor a contract - has never been tested in court. From ZDNet Asia: "David Vaile, executive director of the Cyberspace Law and Policy Center at the University of New South Wales, said that Microsoft participants at a recent symposium on the issue found it challenging to explain how an ordinary person 'or even an ordinary lawyer' could easily determine which parts of the specification were covered. 'This lack of certainty would mean a cautious lawyer may be reluctant to advise any third party to rely on the promise without extensive and potentially quite expensive analysis, and even that could be inconclusive,' Vaile said. 'In turn, this could restrict its viability as a usable standard for less well-resourced users, including small developers and many public organizations.'"

Comments

Re:too many lawyers

[KDR_11k]

I wouldn't be so sure about that. The predecessors to lawyers caused this mess by arguing "but it doesn't SAY that!" so everything had to be spelled out in an unambiguous way to prevent people from arguing about the rules.

Re:The same has been said of the GPL

[Vexorian]

Don't believe the hype. Don't believe the FUD. There are real reasons to complain about M$. This isn't one of them.

Hell yes it is. In fact, if there is a reason to complain about MS, optionally-open XML IS! In fact, you have not credibility left for saying the non sense you've just said.

For starters, MS' "promise not to sue" is in no part friendly with the GPL (now that you mention it) And the mere fact that you need MS' to decide not to sue you for implementing their "open" standard is quite ridiculous (really...) What on earth prevents MS to suddenly decide to stop the promise?

Re:Right!

[bmartin]

MSFT has done an amazing job of locking people in. PC Gaming is predominantly a Direct X-driven industry. Take a look at Halo. People are going to stick w/ Windows instead of OS X or Linux as long as MS dominates the gaming world.

People stick with what they're used to. Wine helps with gaming in OS X and Linux, but it's not going to challenge MSFT's dominance.

Do you want to challenge their dominance? Give a PS3 or a Wii as a gift... or even an Xbox 360. Put an end to Windows gaming. Install a copy of OpenOffice.org instead of that evaluation copy of MS Office that comes with their new computer.

Are you sick of providing tech support to your relatives? Show them what it's like to be virus- and spyware-free with OS X or Linux. Let them run Vista and Ubuntu (or whatever distro you like) side-by-side on the same hardware and let them decide for themselves which one better suits their needs.

I can honestly say that I've had a lot of luck. My parents, my little brother, my fiancee and her father all run Ubuntu now. We use CUPS to print documents from our laptops and it never fails. We mount remote file shares easily and spend countless hours playing Battle for Wesnoth, Runescape, etc.

I don't care if you're a Mac or a Linux person... get people to use something other than Windows... anything else will do.