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Microsoft Reader, What the fuck.

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worker201:

--- Quote from: Calum ---pdf is not a standard format. it is a closed proprietary format, which changes irregularly between versions, and is administered by a company, Adobe.
--- End quote ---

Since the PDF specifications are readily available to whoever wants them, I don't know if this qualifies as a closed format.  Yes, it is owned by Adobe, and it does change for unclear reasons.  But aside from the licensing restrictions, anybody who wants to can design a program that produces or reads PDFs.  No need to reverse engineer anything.  Now the licensing thing is weird - I think you have to give all this credit all over the place, and you probably can't sell a PDF tool.  So it's kind of a halfway point between open and closed.

In fact, I think the PDF model should be the model for all proprietary standards.  The company maintains all rights to the standard, but it is readily available to anyone who wants it.  This would maximize compatibility between applications and platforms without jeopardizing a company's "right to profit" from the standard.

H_TeXMeX_H:

--- Quote ---On the question of why Adobe's PDF format meets the definition of "open format", state officials said it was a "grey area" but that Adobe's legal and licensing terms were deemed sufficiently open.
--- End quote ---

 from: ZDNet
This is from the article on Massachusets swithing to OpenOffice format.


As for M$ reader ... There must be other sites that offer e-books in standard pdf format ... if M$ Reader is as buggy as you say it is there is a good chance that sites that use it will take a big hit ... I mean hopefully there will be enough problems with it that people will complain heavily or move to other sites.

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