Dan Bricklin breaks down Microsoft’s modified license agreement for the Office 2003 XML schema. It’s a terrific idea. From press accounts I thought the idea was to let developers consume and produce the format. Turns out there are still some critical restrictions.
“…the general license isn’t as open as they might want people to believe and that they do believe in lock-in. That’s not a good signal to send the world. The fact that Microsoft it trumpeting how good this is shows they know people care.”
Hmm. These are tough strategic issues I imagine for Microsoft, but it’s great to see this change. As a developer though, I guess I have to read further. Where are my “legal reading glasses?”