---

---

Advocacy :: Open Source
Standards :: Reference
Patents :: Intellectual Property

Attachments in Proprietary Formats Considered Harmful - Explains the risks of exchanging data in non-public format and suggests the main alternatives.
Meta Description: [ Problems of proprietary email attachments. ]

Avoid E-Mail Attachments, Especially Microsoft Word - Short document with instructions to MS-Word users on alternatives they can use for document exchange.

Build Systems, Not Companies, on Open Standards - Without standards, every job is a one-off, and vendor lock-in is assured after the first project. Open standards are the beating heart of e-Business, without which concepts like intranets and business-to-business commerce would not be practical on a mass scale.
Meta Description: [ Without standards, every job is a one-off, and vendor lock-in is assured after the first project. Open standards are the beating heart of e-Business, without which concepts like intranets and business-to-business commerce would not be practical on a mass scale. ]

Burn All GIFs - Campaign for replacing the (formerly) patent-encumbered GIF format by open standard graphics. Since the GIF formats has become patent-free, the site advocates against software patents.

Business Case for Open Standards - Paper investigating economical issues related to the diffusion of public standards.

Content Management and Edit Data Exchange - Article on formats interoperability in audio and video content.
Meta Description: [ EdlMax provides edit data software tools for the video and film production industries. ]

Cover Pages: Patents and Open Standards - Investigates the effects of patent proliferation and criticizes reasonable and non-discriminatory license terms (RAND) for patented technologies.

Death to Proprietary Word Formats - Argues in favor of using HTML instead of proprietary word formats.
Meta Description: [ This article by Charlie Calvert argues in favor of using HTML instead of proprietary word formts such as those supported by Microsoft Word. ]

LinuxLab - Open Standards - Argues in favor of patent-free standards and suggests recommended formats for different kinds of content.
Meta Description: [ The importance of Open Standards ]

MS-Word Is Not a Document Exchange Format - Explains the appropriate use of document formats and argues against the use of Word attachments.

No Proprietary Binary Data Formats - Why not use proprietary formats and what are the main open alternatives.

Open Data Format Initiative - Initiative aiming to convince software companies to release data format documentation and to pass laws that governments can only store user data in open format. Presents its manifesto, forum, news, links to institutional resolutions.

404 Open File Format Definition - Definition proposed and discussed on the Texas Open Source Initiative Mailing List, as part of an initiative to promote the use of such standards in government projects.

Open Source versus Open Standards - Draws a distinction between open source advocacies and the promotion of public standards, warning against the confusion of these two initiatives.

Open Standards - What is a standard, what is an open standard, and why use open standards on the Internet.
Meta Description: [ A complete guide to building a school web site; a hands-on project that teachers and kids can do together ]

Open Standards Repository - Archive of standards relevant to the Open Source community, including licenses, public standards, protocols, RFCs.

Open Standards-The Only Option - Internet technologies and the economical challenge of open protocols.
Meta Description: [ SD Times: Software Development, a BZ Media LLC publication ]

Open Standards: Principles and Practice - Illustrates the principles behind format standardization and the practice of promoting formats interoperability.

Openformats.org - Collaborative documentation projects on why use public standards and open formats and why avoid proprietary formats in data exchange.

OpenStandards.net - A not-for-profit organization connecting people to open standards and the bodies that build and foster their growth.

Please don't send me Microsoft Word documents - A discussion of the problems of MSWord as a document exchange format and what alternatives are available. Suitable for a non-technical audience.
Meta Description: [ A discussion of the problems of Word as a document exchange format, suitable for a non-technical audience. ]

Sincere Choice - Intercommunication and file formats should follow standards that are sincerely open for all to implement, without royalty fees or discrimination.

Software Standards versus Protocol Standards - How open standards may help mitigate or prevent customer lock-in strategies.

Streaming media: A case for open standards - Benefits of the development of open specifications for audio and video formats. By Rich Mavrogeanes.
Meta Description: [ Streaming media: A case for open standards | VBrick Systems president Rich Mavrogeanes says streaming media will never match the quality or ubiquity of commercial TV, as long as it fails to rally around a single standard. | October 29, 2003, 4:00 PM PT | Rich Mavrogeanes ]

The Free Standards Group - A non-profit corporation to increase the use and acceptance of open source technologies through the application, development and promotion of standards.
Meta Description: [ Open Standards for Open Source ]

The Principles of Open Standards - Ken Krechmer analyzes the distinct issues behind advocacy for non-proprietary formats.
Meta Description: [ The Meaning of Open Standards by Ken Krechmer ]

W3C Patent Policy - Governs the handling of patents in the process of producing Web standards. The goal of this policy is to assure that Recommendations produced under this policy can be implemented on a Royalty-Free (RF) basis.

We Can Put an End to Word Attachments - Richard Stallman's arguments against the use of proprietary formats in document exchange.

We Can Put an End to Word Attachments - A Discussion - Forum on Richard Stallman's document against file exchange in proprietary format.
Meta Description: [ - By Richard Stallman - Don't you just hate receiving Word documents in email messages? Word attachments are annoying, but worse than that, they impede people from switching to free software. Maybe we can stop this practice with a simple collective effort. All we hav... ]

Why Not Word! - Why not using Word, Excel or any other proprietary format to communicate.
Meta Description: [ Why you should not use Word, Excel or any other proprietary format to communicate information ]

Why There Are Not GIF Files on GNU Pages - Advocates against the use of image formats that are protected by patents. Presents a brief history of the GIF format as well as its open alternatives.