Path: sparky!uunet!stanford.edu!ames!haven.umd.edu!darwin.sura.net! zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!PYR.SWAN.AC.UK!iiitac From: iii...@PYR.SWAN.AC.UK (Alan Cox) Newsgroups: gnu.misc.discuss Subject: Photo-CD Message-ID: <3713.9209010917@pyr.swan.ac.uk> Date: 1 Sep 92 09:17:47 GMT Sender: use...@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU Lines: 14 Once more I'm glad I live in europe. At least here they _can't_ stop me disassembling their code and writing compatibility for it into programs There is a definite case for having a free image format on CD, to that kind of standard, maybe not so efficient or clever as photo-cd. The inevitable alternative will be half a dozen major different formats all incompatible. We've spent twenty years getting in a total mess with the computer industry making this mistake - do we have to do it again ? On the flip side of the coin at least the prices kodak are charging for their facilities are not unreasonable. Alan
Path: sparky!uunet!sun-barr!ames!agate!ucbvax!PYR.SWAN.AC.UK!iiitac From: iii...@PYR.SWAN.AC.UK (Alan Cox) Newsgroups: gnu.misc.discuss Subject: GATT Message-ID: <17044.9209021056@pyr.swan.ac.uk> Date: 2 Sep 92 10:56:39 GMT Sender: dae...@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU Lines: 15 Fortunately a lot of UK companies have been pointing out the patent problem (well to be precise the we get their patents but we don't have them here so its unfair side of it), and with any luck the patent issues will get re-examined. Secondly I'm fairly sure that GATT in any form if it went to a referendum as the maastrict treaty (european single market) did in some countries it will be thrown out by the people - amongst other things the french farmers are very powerful. I guess we have to hope that GATT takes so long to negotiate that the US ceases to be a credible world power (two dollars to the pound and its rising 8-)) or has its much overdue revolution. Alan
Path: sparky!uunet!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!cis.ohio-state.edu! ucbvax!PYR.SWAN.AC.UK!iiitac From: iii...@PYR.SWAN.AC.UK (Alan Cox) Newsgroups: gnu.misc.discuss Subject: EEC and software rights Message-ID: <19020.9209021100@pyr.swan.ac.uk> Date: 2 Sep 92 11:00:49 GMT Sender: dae...@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU Lines: 16 The EEC law guarantees you the right to take someones software and disassemble it for the purpose of making your own application compatible with that software. it doesn't let you then go off and write books about what you have found or write a clone - that still needs clean room techniques. It does mean for example I can dissasemble a DOS driver and use the info to write a unix driver for the same hardware or find out how to call the driver myself so that I can use it directly from an application. It's actually very rarely an issue, but its a nice protection to have. [I think thats exactly right, but I haven't been involved in anything but the software side for a while (thank Eris)] Alan