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Microsoft adds XAML to 'Open Specification' list


By David Worthington


 David Worthington
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March 28, 2008 —  (Page 2 of 2)
How irrevocable is ‘irrevocable?’
On March 12, the Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC) published a paper that outlines what Microsoft says it promises compared to what SFLC believes it actually promises. SFLC claims that a provision defining covered specifications considerably weakens the OSP. It reads: “New versions of previously covered specifications will be separately considered for addition to the list.”

The SFLC reasons that Microsoft’s narrow definition of the covered specifications infers that no future versions of those specifications are guaranteed coverage by the OSP. In short, each new version is subject to Microsoft’s approval on a case-by-case basis.

According to the SFLC, Microsoft can effectively revoke the promise that it had applied to a prior version of a particular specification.

Gray Knowlton, a group product manager for the Microsoft Office system characterized the SFLC’s analysis as a disappointing surprise in a March 13 blog post titled “A disappointing surprise from the SFLC.” He admitted that it was true that OSP only applies to listed versions of a covered specification, but noted that it was “unusual”  to automatically include all future versions of a specification in such a license, and pointed out that IBM has a pledge that is similar to Microsoft’s OSP.

IBM does indeed offer a unilateral non-assertion promise, known as the Interoperability Specifications Pledge, which covers more than 150 specifications and protocols. Sun Microsystems has a similar pledge that it refers to as a “Non-Assertion Covenant” which selectively adopts new versions of covered specifications.





Related Search Term(s): Microsoft, open source, XAML

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