[Sigia-l] Share and share alike

[Donna M. Fritzsche]

So, someone please help me out here, are they trying to indirectly 
patent the exact specification of the xml structure - by patenting 
the methods used to parse structures of that exact specification?
My terminology may not be accurate - please feel free to offer a 
better way of saying it?

Does not seem like it would be patentable, but not surprised that 
they are trying.

Donna

At 5:50 PM -0500 1/24/04, Listera wrote:
>OK, I admit it upfront, this is about standards. (But if you are living
>anywhere in the Northeast US or Southern Europe in this frigid weather what
>else are you going to do! :-)
>
>A significant chunk of the world's enterprise info/data is locked up in
>Microsoft Office format. It's locked up in the sense that it can't be fully
>integrated with wider non-Office/non-MS server workflows for intranet or web
>applications.
>
>Some people thought this would change when MS broadly adopted XML
>input/output for its Office products. In other words, you'd be finally able
>to dump your data out of Office in XML and any other app that can parse XML
>would be able to read it back in. You could thus share the data and
>incorporate it in much wider and varied workflows. Finally having reached a
>"standard" at the file format level for free exchange of data, applications
>would now be in a position to compete at the implementation/workflow/process
>level, as I've been preaching here. Then, I wouldn't care what "standard" a
>corporation has adopted internally at the application level.
>
>Some of us lauded Microsoft's adoption of XML but were incredulous that MS
>would actually allow third parties to make full use of their hitherto
>proprietary formats. Well, the other shoe finally dropped:
>
>"Microsoft has applied for patents that could prevent competing applications
>from processing documents created with the latest version of the software
>giant's Office program."
>
>Microsoft seeks XML-related patents
><http://news.com.com/2100-1013_3-5146581.html?tag=nefd_top>
>
>Some things in life never change. :-)
>
>----
>Ziya
>
>Architecture is politics.
>
>
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