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Is ODF an Open Standard? ~ by David A. Wheeler (Groklaw)Is ODF an Open Standard? ~ by David A. Wheeler (Groklaw)Posted Feb 11, 2006 13:46 UTC (Sat) by lolando (subscriber, #7139)Parent article: Is ODF an Open Standard? ~ by David A. Wheeler (Groklaw)
There's [an article in] a French law that speficically defines an open standard. It goes something like (translation mine): "An open standard is defined as any communication, interconnection or exchange protocol, or any data format, that is interoperable and for which the technical specifications are public and without restrictions on access or on implementation." It's weaker than the criteria mentioned by David Wheeler, because it doesn't mention evolution of the standard (or its creation process), but I find it remarkably simple and to-the-point.
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Is ODF an Open Standard? ~ by David A. Wheeler (Groklaw) Posted Feb 11, 2006 17:29 UTC (Sat) by dwheeler (guest, #1216) [Link] That's very interesting! Can you point me to it?
Is ODF an Open Standard? ~ by David A. Wheeler (Groklaw) Posted Feb 12, 2006 9:56 UTC (Sun) by seyman (subscriber, #1172) [Link] Don't know of any english sites but Thierry Stoehr's web site about open formats has all the details : http://formats-ouverts.org/blog/2004/07/01/12-UnArticleDe...
Definition of open standard in French law Posted Feb 12, 2006 16:39 UTC (Sun) by dwheeler (guest, #1216) [Link] Excellent, thanks. I will probably write a related article creating a merged definition of "open standards", similar to this article; the French definition is definitely useful. (I knew there was a reason I took French in school.) For those who read French, the original is: "On entend par standard ouvert tout protocole de communication, d'interconnexion ou d'échange et tout format de données interopérable et dont les spécifications techniques sont publiques et sans restriction d'accès ni de mise en oeuvre."Should I read "sans restriction d'accès" as "anyone is permitted to read it (possibly for a fee)" or "access is given to the public at no cost"? The reading seems ambiguous to me; "Sans restriction" is literally "without restriction" but it's not clear exactly what restrictions are in view. Any justification for a particular reading would be appreciated.
Definition of open standard in French law Posted Feb 12, 2006 19:53 UTC (Sun) by Arker (guest, #14205) [Link] I would argue that 'without restriction' should be interpreted to mean 'without restriction.'ANY licensing requirements are restrictions.
Definition of open standard in French law Posted Feb 12, 2006 21:40 UTC (Sun) by lolando (subscriber, #7139) [Link] I tend to agree, since I've heard that some people, most notably the French standardisation committee (AFNOR) are made more and more uncomfortable by this wording -- they require a hefty amount of money for access to the standards they publish.
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