__/ [ High Plains Thumper ] on Thursday 07 December 2006 10:23 \__
> nessuno wrote:
>
>> Vista is the first operating system to begin to use the
>> features of the Trusted Computing Module, though for now,
>> Microsoft is eschewing the use of "Remote Attestation"
>> where software is verified over a network (they've made no
>> promise about doing this forever, of course). No company
>> has spent more time and money on preventing its competitors
>> from reading its documents: remember the fight at the
>> Massachusetts state-house over the proposal to require that
>> government documents be kept in open file-formats?
>>
>> The deck is stacked against open file formats. Risk-averse
>> enterprises love the idea of revocable documents -- HIPPA
>> compliance, for example, is made infinitely simpler if any
>> health record that leaks out of the hospital can simply
>> have its "read privileges" revoked. This won't keep
>> patients safer. As Don Marti says, "Bill Gates pitch[ed]
>> DRM using the example of an HIV test result, which is
>> literally one bit of information. If you hired someone
>> untrustworthy enough to leak that but unable to remember
>> it, you don't need DRM, you need to fix your hiring
>> process." But it will go a long way towards satisfying
>> picky compliance officers. Look for mail-server advertising
>> that implies that unless you buy some fancy product that
>> auto-converts plain Office documents to "revocable" ones,
>> you're being negligent. ----------------
>> end quote
>>
>> http://www.eetimes.com/news/latest/showArticle.jhtml?article
>> ID=196602058&pgno=2
>
> Perhaps this is the purpose of Microsoft issuing its Open XML
> format. If in future it requires special cryto keys to unlock
> it and not all can have access to the keying methodology, then
> it is no longer open.
>
> In a way it is a reminder of proprietary format, Sony Betamax
> for VCR tape. The more open but in some ways less superior
> VHS format won out.
>
> I am hoping that Open Document format wins out over
> Microsoft's format.
>
> As expressed previously by others, there is a reason why
> Microsoft has not permitted easy access to other save-as
> formats.
>
> Just like they did with Office almost a decade ago, where it
> would only save-as WordPerfect 5.1 format (a throwback to the
> MS-DOS and Windows 3.1 era), when WordPerfect 7 and 8 abound,
> I doubt open will really be open.
Here's another refreshing reminder...
"Taking Microsoft's ODF Plugin for a Spin... Splat"
http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20060720063746488
They still provide it as a plugin (download for your 'leisure'), which
certainly they don't care about. They nicked the code from SourceForge and
they probably hope to neglect it if they manage to abolish OpenDocument
(which they cannot... it's too late... not even their partnership with Corel
and Novell will change that).
By the way, the OP beat me to it by less than an hour. Sorry about the dupe.
Best wishes,
Roy
--
Roy S. Schestowitz | It is no longer uncommon to be uncommon
http://Schestowitz.com | RHAT Linux | PGP-Key: 0x74572E8E
11:20am up 49 days 21:34, 8 users, load average: 0.38, 0.61, 0.68
http://iuron.com - Open Source knowledge engine project
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