Open Format Definition
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Background
TODO
Existing material:
http://www.openforumeurope.org/what-is/open-standards/open-standards/
http://www.fsfe.org/fellows/greve/freedom_bits/an_emerging_understanding_of_open_standards
The Definition
TODO
- Define the difference between Open Standards and Open Formats.
"Open formats are open standards to store and transmit documents, information, and in general knowledge. Examples of open formats are HTML and XML. It may be sufficient to discuss just “standards” in general, as standard formats are just a particular form of standard. However, since formats play a very important role, it is worthwhile to consider them explicitly in the rest of the discussion. "
Notes and Thoughts
An open format is not:
- Encumbered by patents.
- Named using a trademark unless that trademark is usably by anyone under appropriately open terms (to define? - a trademark can be used to protect the integrity of a format, but use should not require payment, even for conformance testing)
- tied to a particular software implementation (ie. it should be practical to have multiple software implementations)
An open format is:
- Well and completely documented sufficient to implement a safely conformant reader/writer from scratch.
- Defined in documentation that is freely redistributable (though the document may be under a license that doesn't allow changes to the spec document)
- Software language independent (no dependencies on language specific components like "python pickling")
Is is desirable that an open format:
- have an open source reference implementation for reading and writing.