Re: Flash is open?
On Fri, 14 May 2010 13:37:44 +0200, Artifex Maximus wrote:
> On Fri, May 14, 2010 at 12:38 PM, Camaleón wrote:
>> "Published" does not means FLOSS or GPL. I would like to know what is
>> the licence of Flash :-)
>
> http://www.adobe.com/devnet/swf/
>
> "The SWF file format is available as an open specification ..."
I hope that is more than "pretty words" :-)
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_specifications
>
> "An open specification is not controlled by a single company or
> individual or by a group with discriminatory membership criteria. Copies
> of Open Specifications are available free of charge or for a moderate
> fee and can be implemented under reasonable and non discriminatory
> licensing (RAND) terms by all interested parties."
So that means...?
a/ That I can modify the code of Flash without any fear of Adobe being
suing me :-)
b/ That I can "read" and "use" their specs, but nothing more.
"b" option is not very good for a FLOSS community :-/
> And for some other informations:
>
> http://www.openscreenproject.org/about/faq.html
>
> "Where are the new licenses for the SWF and FLV/F4V specifications?
>
> Adobe has removed the entire license agreement from the SWF and FLV/F4V
> specifications. The only remaining restrictions are on copying and
> distributing the specifications themselves and on the use of Adobe
> trademarks, including the Flash trademark. The copyright and trademark
> restrictions are on the copyright page of the specification. Developers
> are now free to implement what is documented in the specifications
> without restrictions from Adobe."
Sorry, but I do cannot fully trust Adobe nor any company behind a product
with such "terse" license model... which makes me wonder why Apple has
not developed yet its own Flash player or why Flash is not included into
W3C standards, along with SMIL and SVG >:-)
Greetings,
--
Camaleón
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