Re: MS filters

Ariya Hidayat wrote:

Ok, I've resisted the urge to comment until now, but...

> I suggest that you take a look first at the file format documentation:
> http://www.microsoft.com/interop/docs/OfficeBinaryFormats.mspx

...I suggest anyone that wants to write FLOSS code *do not* look at that 
without a lawyer's OK. Google[1] turns up way to many results (note 
particularly the ones from Red Hat's Truth Happens /and the SFLC[2]/) 
implying OSP is not compatible with GPL, which means we should not 
accept contributions from anyone that has looked at these documents.

(And MSOOXML is rumored to be a patent minefield. I hope the people 
thinking about implementing it are keeping this in mind...)

1: 
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=gpl+microsoft+open+specification+promise+-site%3Amicrosoft.com&btnG=Search
2: http://www.softwarefreedom.org/resources/2008/osp-gpl.html

-- 
Matthew
/bin/sh -- still Bourne on Solaris (and still not POSIX compliant)