Re: RTF - proprietary or open?

[ndemou@gmail.com]

On 6/25/07, David Baron <d_baron@012.net.il> wrote:
> > I'm using Abiword, which recommends using RTF for document exchange
> > with non-Abi users.  I'm trying to understand whether RTF is an open
> > standard.  Wikipedia [0] claims that it's proprietary.  This article
> > [1] points out that it has the same status as PDF.  I can't imagine
> > that Abi would recommend a non-open standard, and even prefer it to ODF
> > (OASIS / XML) [2].  What does it even mean for a file format to be
> > open? That the creator can't restrict its use? That the spec has been
> > published?
> >
> > [0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rich_Text_Format
> > [1] http://www.tkachenko.com/blog/archives/000657.html
> > [2] http://www.abisource.com/mailinglists/abiword-dev/2003/Apr/0167.html

you can check these
http://www.groklaw.net/comment.php?mode=display&sid=20061204130954610&amp;title=RTF+specification+timeline&type=article&order=&hideanonymous=0&pid=512993#c513503
http://blogs.msdn.com/brian_jones/archive/2005/10/01/476067.aspx#476910