Besides, XML is a framework

Post #58,416 by wharris2 10/22/02 1:49:21 PM Reply	Besides, XML is a framework If whatever Word/Excel/Office lookalike doesn't know what "msoft_format_special" is (just picking something out of the air), it should still be able to parse the XML, it just won't be able to do whatever "msoft_format_special" is trying to tell it to do.
Post #58,466 by imric 10/22/02 4:33:52 PM Reply	msoft_format_special parses the binary data that actually composes the document. Compressed/encrypted/proprietary formatting language, it doesn't matter. XML doesn't guarantee that the data is actually text and readable, does it? Imric's Tips for Living Paranoia Is a Survival Trait Pessimists are never disappointed - but sometimes, if they are very lucky, they can be pleasantly surprised... Even though everyone is out to get you, it doesn't matter unless you let them win.
Post #58,471 by jake123 10/22/02 4:47:34 PM Reply	Re: msoft_format_special IIRC (If I Read Correctly) XML guarantees that it's text, but doesn't guarantee readibility. So... they could encrypt the data in the fields and make it legitimate XML while still garnering protection via anti-circumventing laws, like the DMCA. This would in fact close the format even more than it currently is... clean room reverse engineering of binary data formats is perfectly allowable under the law, but reverse engineering encryption of data is not... cf. Skylarov, DeCSS. --\r\n-------------------------------------------------------------------\r\n* Jack Troughton jake at consultron.ca \r\n [link\|http://consultron.ca\|http://consultron.ca] [link\|irc://irc.ecomstation.ca\|irc://irc.ecomstation.ca] \r\n Laval Qu\ufffdbec Canada [link\|news://news.consultron.ca\|news://news.consultron.ca] *\r\n-------------------------------------------------------------------
Post #58,479 by drewk 10/22/02 5:05:39 PM Reply	No guarantee at all IIRC (If I Read Correctly) XML guarantees that it's text, but doesn't guarantee readibility. Not at all. XML just describes the structure for formatting tags, and allows linking to an external DTD that defines the contents and parameters of the tags. It basically allows you to define a custom markup language. It is perfectly legal in XML for one of the tags to define binary data. This is required for images, but can easily be used for arbitrary binary streams. ie: ActiveX controls, Java applets, compressed/encrypted text, etc. === Microsoft offers them the one thing most business people will pay any price for - the ability to say "we had no choice - everyone's doing it that way." -- [link\|http://z.iwethey.org/forums/render/content/show?contentid=38978\|Andrew Grygus]
Post #58,907 by jb4 10/23/02 3:30:12 PM Reply	Well, hold on there a second... If I were to get something that told me it was XML, I (per your statement) could legally assume it's text. I could then legally reverse engineer that text. That it's encrypted is hardly an issue...unless Microsoft specifically claims it's encrypted, so as to invoke whatever shell of DMCA it might to protect its monopoly. And they wouldn't do that (IMnsHO), because it would be "bad press". (I can see the headlines now in the Chicago Sun-Times: "Microsoft Admits Scrambling Your Data." "Your Letters to Mom Encoded so Only Microsoft Can Read Them." Might actually be fun....) jb4 "About the use of language: it is impossible to sharpen a pencil with a blunt axe. It is equally vain to try to do it with ten blunt axes instead. " -- Edsger W.Dijkstra (1930 - 2002) (I wish more managers knew that...)
Post #58,562 by wharris2 10/22/02 7:20:33 PM Reply	Reading some of the other comments, So it is special, but it isn't special? Heehee.

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