[wilhelmtux-discussion] Begriffsdefinition "Offener Standard"

[Claude Almansi]

Thanks, Sascha!

for the reibe Welschen on this list

Claude

-----Message d'origine-----
De : wilhelmtux-discussion-admin at wilhelmtux.ch
[mailto:wilhelmtux-discussion-admin at wilhelmtux.ch] De la part de Sascha
Brawer
Envoyé : jeudi 16 janvier 2003 13:25
À : wilhelmtux-discussion at wilhelmtux.ch
Cc : Anne Possoz
Objet : Re: [wilhelmtux-discussion] Begriffsdefinition "Offener
Standard"


Nicolas Iselin <nicolas at iselin.ch> wrote on Mon, 13 Jan 2003 22:59:17
+0100:

>'free format' (free speech, not free beer)
>
>[A free format has no restrictions whatsoever. Encoders/decoders  may 
>be incorporated into both proprietary products and  open source 
>software. GPL.]

Someone could patent a technology required for implementing a format,
publish an open-source implementation, and wait for the format to gain
acceptance -- the more widespread the better. Finally, when everyone is
used to the format, they start collecting license fees.

==> A format is not any more or less free because of free
implementations.

It's not that hypothetical, by the way. Unisys started to ask for money
only after GIF had become really popular. (GIF is an image format that
uses the LZW compression technique, which had been patented by Unisys).

-- Sascha


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