At 08:37 AM 1/23/03 -0500, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:The OGL requires only that OGC be "clearly indicated". I think the only reasonable way to interpret it is to assume that, "for those that have the appropriate mechanical and linguistic facilities to access a particular document, can they ascertain which parts of the data are OGC and which aren't?"While I don't disagree with you 100%, I think you're on sort of a slippery slope. Already between PDF and Access DBs, you're talking about a huge difference in accessibility: the former is a commodity format, for which there are dozens of applications on almost every platform. The latter is pretty closely tied to one app from one company on one platform.
I don't think that any of this is an issue at all. It doesn't matter if you have an acrobat reader, or if you you have access to Access.
This works in the same way that it doesn't matter that a printed work is in English if you only understand a foreign language, or that its distributed as non-braille paper and you may happen to be blind.
The point is, that if you publish something useable from the SRD to be used *in a particular form*, then people using your work *in that form* need to be able to clearly see the SRD content.
For example, when you distribute a printed work, all SRD derivied content can obviously be seen.
If you distribute an application that uses Access, it shouldn't matter whether or not you have Access to view the database files. Since a program is the medium providing you a derivation of the SRD, that program (or suite of "programs") needs to be able to show you what it uses from the SRD (any database files or derivational scripts).
Similarly, it doesn't matter if you distribute a PDF that people may, or may not be able to use. The point is, if they are able to use it (ie have an acrobat user), then they need to be able to *all* of what you use. For example, if the acrobat viewer had an ability to execute scripts hidden away in a non-accessible, password-protected area, you would be able to use it.
A better example might be an Excel speadsheet application. There's nothing wrong with distributing an excel spreadsheet that has SRD tables and scripts in it (for let's say, a jump calculator). Its not your problem if somebody doesn't have excel, just like its not your problem if you produce a printed work in English, and somebody who wants to use it is blind and/or non-English-speaking.
The point is, you cannot hide any SRD content in excel tables or code that is in a hidden, password protected area.
Once people are able to use your SRD derivation, they need to be able to see ALL the OGC you make use of in that distributed work.
Whilst I'm pretty confident of what I say above, I'll go a bit further on my own interpretation of the Access example. I would say that if you have an application that uses SRD content in an Access database, you need to provide the viewing screens for any SRD data you use in your program. I don't believe that its sufficient to say "Use your own copy of Access if you want to see my data. In this case, you have provided a *program* to utilise the SRD, so the program needs to indicate the OGC.
On the other hand (the confusing part), if all you provide is an Access database, which requires Access in the first place to use *any* of it, then all is okay. Once a person is able to use *part* of what you provide, then they need to be able to clearly see all used OGC.
I think this is the neat, perhaps non-obvious, approach to a requirement for displaying OGC. As a last example, you may provide a program that only works on some unusual computer and operating system in the Eskimo language. The point is, that once an Eskimo with that machine and operating system is able to run your program and use it, all OGC must be clearly viewable to that person.
Regards,
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