On Tuesday 24 July 2001 11:54, you wrote:
> On Tue, 24 Jul 2001, Matthew Rose wrote:
> The laserwriter was probably one of the first consumer laser printers that
> came with a postscript RIP - the HP LaserJet had a PS option. It was the
> combination of the Mac, the LaserWriter and Pagemaker that made the
> 'killer' app.
This is right, I had to write programs for output of a CAD system, PostScript
was the 'great white hope', for device independant output. At first ps was
just B/W, and there weren't ppd file to define the non-portable capabilities.
PostScript was 'owned' by Adobe, for a long time printers that used 'clone'
interpreters tended to give you trouble, as they had implementation bugs (or
perhaps a lack of Adobe bugs that programs relied on). Good news that it's
now an ISO standard, I mentioned PostScript as removing pdf readers seems
more like a self-DoS than effective action.
It would seem DMCA would prevent this cloning in future, where the slightest
intent has been made to maintain copyright (and it appears rot13 would
qualify). An obvious case would be the need of Linux office suites to
support M$'s .doc format.
As for Adobe, DMCA is a corporate law, designed to suit corporations and
protect their profits. It is designed to aid closing systems, and not using
well designed standard file formats, reduces competition and interoperability
of computer systems entrenching monopolies. Considering how much in hock US
politicians are to corporate money, consumer resistance and complaint is the
most feasible way to fight this. Software copy protection schemes became
less popular due to market pressure, a boycott of companies hiding behind
DMCA, is a way to strike back.
There's a need to attract press attention, and portraying a 'war' between
Adobe and 'Hackers' protesting against the arrest of Dmitry, is sexy enough
to get the issues addressed by the press. Adobe should have gone after the
company, not individual employees. The action threatens many developers
engaged in perfectly lawful pursuits (in their countries), as shown by Alan
Cox's decision not to visit the US. Unfortunately without some incidents to
add colour to the story the case will be ignored, and consumers will sleep
walk on, not realising how their freedoms and rights are being eroded.
The same process is happening here, and no political party seems to be
effectively opposing this process. In fact they seem to be actively
competing to come up with illiberal policies.
Rob
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