On Tuesday 17 Mar 2009, Mayank wrote: > Can someone please explain it to me as to what is difference > between a document format being an Open Standard vs. a document > format licensed under GPL ?
An open standard is one whose complete specification has been published. It helps (but is not essential) if the standard has been ratified by a standardisation body (e.g. BIS or ISO), in which case it's a de jure standard. If it hasn't been ratified but has still been published with some sort of warranty that it won't change without notice, it's still an open de facto standard. GPL is for licensing software, not standards. You could hypothetically license an implementation of a format under the GPL, in which case the format becomes a de facto standard (since, in the worst case, anyone can derive the standard from the source code), but that would be a rather round-about way of achieving an open standard :) Publishing a format spec would be better off as a text document rather than as a code implementation; OTOH you could always publish the text of the standard and simultaneously publish code as a reference implementation. Confused yet? No!!???! I am! Regards, -- Raju -- Raj Mathur r...@kandalaya.org http://kandalaya.org/ GPG: 78D4 FC67 367F 40E2 0DD5 0FEF C968 D0EF CC68 D17F PsyTrance & Chill: http://schizoid.in/ || It is the mind that moves _______________________________________________ ilugd mailinglist -- ilugd@lists.linux-delhi.org http://frodo.hserus.net/mailman/listinfo/ilugd Archives at: http://news.gmane.org/gmane.user-groups.linux.delhi http://www.mail-archive.com/ilugd@lists.linux-delhi.org/
