Red Hat deputy general counsel Mark Webbink's remarks about the Novell-Microsoft deal sounds a little like sour grapes. He welcomed Microsoft's other effort when Red Hat benefited as well. In response to Microsoft's patent pledge (the Open Specification Promise), Webbink said: "Red Hat believes that the text of the OSP gives sufficient flexibility to implement the listed specifications in software licensed under free and open source licenses. We commend Microsoft's efforts to reach out to representatives from the open source community and solicit their feedback on this text, and Microsoft's willingness to make modifications in response to our comments."
Threatened lawsuit or not from Adobe, there is clearly some dispute that makes no sense. Microsoft is simply implementing an open standard that has been implemented by many, many others. Adobe is walking on thin ice if it thinks it can choose who implements an ISO standard. A better response from Adobe would be for it to create richer document management offerings and why not implement Office Open XML (and ODF). Adobe might fear some loss of distiller business, but it should stand by its own technology. In fact, Adobe could win some marketshare in broader office offerings by building on its brand and pdf technology. But the company will have to do some coding rather than hitting the courts and halls of government.
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Red Hat deputy general counsel Mark Webbink's remarks about the Novell-Microsoft deal sounds a little like sour grapes. He welcomed Microsoft's other effort when Red Hat benefited as well. In response to Microsoft's patent pledge (the Open Specification Promise), Webbink said: "Red Hat believes that the text of the OSP gives sufficient flexibility to implement the listed specifications in software licensed under free and open source licenses. We commend Microsoft's efforts to reach out to representatives from the open source community and solicit their feedback on this text, and Microsoft's willingness to make modifications in response to our comments."
Threatened lawsuit or not from Adobe, there is clearly some dispute that makes no sense. Microsoft is simply implementing an open standard that has been implemented by many, many others. Adobe is walking on thin ice if it thinks it can choose who implements an ISO standard. A better response from Adobe would be for it to create richer document management offerings and why not implement Office Open XML (and ODF). Adobe might fear some loss of distiller business, but it should stand by its own technology. In fact, Adobe could win some marketshare in broader office offerings by building on its brand and pdf technology. But the company will have to do some coding rather than hitting the courts and halls of government.