[ Thanks to An Anonymous Reader for
this link. ]
“I do have concerns about a Sony-controlled format becoming the
standard, due to their ‘content’ division being long-time fans of
digital restrictions management, or DRM. But I’m still glad the
conflict is over. Having one standard format means all I have to do
is to wait for the freedom-loving digital underground to break the
copy-protection on the format so I can back up my movie purchases,
and then it’ll be safe to buy equipment and movies. For a while I
suppose, until the next attempt to change the standard format
occurs.“The arguments over high-definition digital video standards has
a salutary lesson for the world of document formats. Once the
dominant owner of all document formats, the ubiquitous .DOC, .XLS
and .PPT file types, Microsoft is attempting to force all computer
users to standardize on their latest efforts. This new format goes
by the unwieldy name of Office Open XML (OOXML). This name is so
confusing that even Microsoft executives often mistakenly refer to
it as ‘Open Office XML,’ more commonly associated with their Free
Software competitor, OpenOffice…”