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An open format is a published specification for storing digital data, usually maintained by a non-proprietary standards organization, and free of legal restrictions on use. For example, an open format must be implementable by both proprietary and open source software, using the typical licenses used by each. In contrast to open formats, proprietary formats are controlled and defined by private interests. Open formats are a subset of open standards. Open source refers to projects that are open to the public and which draw on other projects that are freely available to the general public. ...
Open Standards are publicly available specifications for achieving a specific task. ...
The primary goal of open formats is to guarantee long-term access to data without current or future uncertainty with regard to legal rights or technical specification. A common secondary goal of open formats is to enable competition, instead of allowing a vendor's control over a proprietary format to inhibit use of competing products. Governments have increasingly shown an interest in open format issues.
Open Source and Open Formats
The relationship between open formats and open source software is frequently misunderstood. Many proprietary software products readily use open formats, and open source software can often use proprietary formats. For example, HTML, the familiar open format markup language of the World Wide Web, creates the foundation for proprietary web browsers like Microsoft's Internet Explorer as well as open source software browsers like Mozilla Firefox. Meanwhile, OpenOffice.org, the open source desktop office application, can manipulate proprietary DOC formats from Microsoft, as well as open formats like OpenDocument. Finally, some companies have published specifications of their formats, making it possible to implement readers or writers for different platforms by different vendors, like Adobe's PDF, or Microsoft's RTF. However, some proprietary formats are covered by some form of restrictive requirements that may forbid open source software implementations (at least under certain licenses common for them, such as the GNU General Public License). According to some critics, such formats inhibit competition. In computing, HyperText Markup Language (HTML) is a markup language designed for the creation of web pages and other information viewable in a browser. ...
Graphic representation of the World Wide Web around Wikipedia The World Wide Web (WWW or simply the Web) is an information space in which the items of interest, referred to as resources, are identified by global identifiers called Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs). ...
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT, HKEx: 4338) is the worlds largest software company, with 2005 global annual sales of 40 billion US dollars and nearly 60,000 employees in 85 countries and regions. ...
Microsoft Internet Explorer, abbreviated IE or MSIE, is a proprietary web browser made by Microsoft and currently available as part of Microsoft Windows. ...
Mozilla Firefox is a free, cross-platform, graphical web browser developed by the Mozilla Corporation and hundreds of volunteers. ...
OpenOffice. ...
The OpenDocument format (ODF), short for the OASIS Open Document Format for Office Applications, is an open document file format for saving and exchanging editable office documents such as text documents (including memos, reports, and books), spreadsheets, charts, and presentations. ...
Adobe Systems (NASDAQ: ADBE) is a computer software company headquartered in San Jose, California that was founded in December 1982 by John Warnock and Charles Geschke. ...
This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ...
The Rich Text Format (often abbreviated to RTF) is a document file format that has been continually developed by Microsoft since 1987 for cross-platform document interchange. ...
The GNU logo The GNU General Public License (GNU GPL or simply GPL) is a free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU project. ...
Political developments In the United States, Massachusetts became the first state to specifically address open formats and its importance to public documents. Following a proposed open format standard announced by Eric Kriss, the state's Secretary for Administration and Finance, Massachusetts convened an open format summit on June 9, 2005. Attendees included Secretary Kriss, state CIO Peter Quinn, and representatives of both proprietary and open formats. State nickname: Bay State Official languages English Capital Boston Largest city Boston Governor Mitt Romney (R) Senators Edward Kennedy (D), John Kerry (D) Area - Total - % water Ranked 44th 27,360 km² 25. ...
Eric Kriss (1949 -) is a business and government leader currently serving as Governor Romneys Secretary of Administration and Finance in Massachusetts. ...
On August 31, 2005, Massachusetts released a revised draft of its open format policy that explicitly endorsed the OASIS OpenDocument formats beginning in 2007, the first state to take such action. The implication for software vendors is that their products must support open formats by 2007 or they will be removed from state employee desktops. Microsoft Office, which currently holds a nearly 100% share of office application software on Massachusetts government computers, responded by submitting its Office Open XML (Extensible Markup Language) document format technology to Ecma International, a standards body. The format is co-sponsorted by Apple, Barclays Capital, BP, the British Library, Essilor, Intel Corporation, Microsoft, NextPage Inc., Statoil ASA and Toshiba. The next version of Microsoft Office, due next year, will save documents in this format. The OpenDocument format (ODF), short for the OASIS Open Document Format for Office Applications, is an open document file format for saving and exchanging editable office documents such as text documents (including memos, reports, and books), spreadsheets, charts, and presentations. ...
Microsoft Office is a suite of productivity programs created by Microsoft and developed for Microsoft Windows and Apple Macintosh operating systems. ...
Peter Quinn announced his resignation on December 28th 2005, citing the controversy surrounding the open format policy.
Examples of open formats The OpenDocument format (ODF), short for the OASIS Open Document Format for Office Applications, is an open document file format for saving and exchanging editable office documents such as text documents (including memos, reports, and books), spreadsheets, charts, and presentations. ...
Computer files can be divided into two broad categories: binary and text. ...
The Rich Text Format (often abbreviated to RTF) is a document file format that has been continually developed by Microsoft since 1987 for cross-platform document interchange. ...
In computing, HyperText Markup Language (HTML) is a markup language designed for the creation of web pages and other information viewable in a browser. ...
The Extensible HyperText Markup Language, or XHTML, is a markup language that has the same expressive possibilities as HTML, but a stricter syntax. ...
This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ...
A photo of a flower compressed with successively lossier compression ratios from left to right. ...
A PNG image with an 8-bit transparency layer (top), overlayed onto a chequered background (bottom). ...
Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) is an XML markup language for describing two-dimensional vector graphics, both static and animated. ...
The Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC) Logo. ...
This page is about the audio compression codec. ...
See also Open systems are computer systems that provide either interoperability, portability, or freedom from proprietary standards, depending on your perspective. ...
Open Standards are publicly available specifications for achieving a specific task. ...
The OpenDocument format (ODF), short for the OASIS Open Document Format for Office Applications, is an open document file format for saving and exchanging editable office documents such as text documents (including memos, reports, and books), spreadsheets, charts, and presentations. ...
In economics, vendor lock-in, also known as proprietary lock-in, lock-in, or the Pottersville pattern, is a situation in which a customer is dependent on a vendor for products and services and cannot move to another vendor without substantial switching costs, real and/or perceived. ...
Microsoft, like many other companies in their heyday, has publicly stated that it aims to embrace and extend popular standards and existing work. ...
The network effect causes a good or service to have a value to a potential customer dependent on the number of customers already owning that good or using that service. ...
Free software, as defined by the Free Software Foundation, is software which can be used, copied, studied, modified and redistributed without restriction. ...
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