____/ BearItAll on Tuesday 21 August 2007 17:01 : \____
> Roy Schestowitz wrote:
>
>> Adobe bashes open-source alternatives
>>
>> ,----[ Quote ]
>> | It's well and good to look at things from the user's perspective, but in
>> | this case it leads to a false dichotomy. Loiacono appears to be
>> | considering only outside open-source alternatives such as Inkscape or
>> | the Gimp.
>> |
>> | There's nothing technological stopping Adobe from releasing software
>> | that's both open-source as well as integrated and easy to use. But it's
>> | misleading to point to the shortcomings of others' open-source software
>> | as a reason why Adobe shouldn't open-source its own.
>> `----
>>
>>
>
http://news.com.com/8301-10784_3-9762967-7.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=NewsBlog
>>
>
> Adobe only have PDF because of openSource postscript. The first versions of
> PDF were just description files exactly the same as postscript, you could
> pass them both through the same print file and get the same result, Until
> PDF got a few extra formating fields added.
>
> New object instructions were added to PDF then at some point Adobe realised
> they were onto a winner and shut the door by coding their PDF's so that you
> couldn't edit them with text utilities anymore.
>
> I often wondered how much PS is still in the makeup of a PDF file, bet it's
> a lot, because PS was a job well done so hard to improve on it, other than
> changes to allow for new objects.
>
> They screwed it up as far as I'm concerned, even after all the trouble with
> OnOpen() and OnClose() in MS documents. PDF's main selling point was that
> it was safe, you could accept them in emails and downloads knowing that
> they couldn't be embedded code. But they changed that so now on MS machines
> PDF's are no safer than MS Docs.
>
> Adobe, you can come back to openSource if you like, but wipe your feet of
> the MS-like ideas as you come in please.
They are at least coming a little cleaner when it comes to cross platform, but
only where it helps their wallet (Flash and Acrobat Reader although they give
Windows great precedence). Better the devil that we know (Adobe/Flash) than
the one that... well... we know all too well (Microsoft/patent-encumbered
Silverlight). Best of all would be Web standards, even JavaScript... I can
trust Sun amid their GPL transitions. They don't discriminate against Linux,
either. but Google does (most recently with StarOffice/Google Pack).
--
~~ Best of wishes
Roy S. Schestowitz | "On the eighth day, God created UNIX"
http://Schestowitz.com | GNU/Linux | PGP-Key: 0x74572E8E
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