friends :

I am not a lawyer and perhaps some other kind community people can help me
to understand what Microsoft is saying about their "XML Paper
Specification".  I figure it is only a matter of time before we need some
sort of software on Solaris that can deal with this format but as near as I
can tell the license is horribly restrictive.

This page :
  http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/xps/xpscommunitypromise.mspx

I do not know *what* that page is trying to say.

However I do see some plain language on this page :
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/xps/xpsspec.mspx

Microsoft Corporation Technical Documentation License Agreement for the XML
Paper Specification

READ THIS! THIS IS A LEGAL AGREEMENT BETWEEN MICROSOFT CORPORATION
("MICROSOFT") AND THE RECIPIENT OF THE ABOVE REFERENCED MATERIALS, WHETHER
AN INDIVIDUAL OR AN ENTITY ("YOU"). IF YOU HAVE ACCESSED THIS AGREEMENT IN
THE PROCESS OF DOWNLOADING THESE MATERIALS ("MATERIALS") FROM A MICROSOFT
WEB SITE, BY CLICKING "I ACCEPT", DOWNLOADING, USING OR PROVIDING FEEDBACK
ON THE MATERIALS, YOU AGREE TO THESE TERMS. IF THIS AGREEMENT IS ATTACHED TO
MATERIALS, BY ACCESSING, USING OR PROVIDING FEEDBACK ON THE ATTACHED
MATERIALS, YOU AGREE TO THESE TERMS. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THESE TERMS, YOU
ARE NOT AUTHORIZED TO ACCESS, DOWNLOAD, USE OR REVIEW THE MATERIALS.

For good and valuable consideration, the receipt and sufficiency of which
are acknowledged, You and Microsoft agree as follows:

1. You may review these Materials only (a) as a reference to assist You in
planning and designing Your product, service or technology ("Product") to
interface with a Microsoft product, specification, service or technology
("Microsoft Product") as described in these Materials; and (b) to provide
feedback on these Materials to Microsoft. All other rights are retained by
Microsoft; this Agreement does not give You rights under any Microsoft
patents. You may not (i) duplicate any part of these Materials, (ii) remove
this Agreement or any notices from these Materials, or (iii) give any part
of these Materials, or assign or otherwise provide Your rights under this
Agreement, to anyone else.

etc etc etc

The part that scares me are the words "You may review these Materials ... as
a reference to assist You in planning and designing Your product ... to
interface with a Microsoft product, specification, service or
technology...".

Like I said .. I am not a lawyer and I am not about to drop $300/hour ( per
shark ) to a team of IP lawyers to tell me that the XPS document format
forces you into Microsoft lockin.  Am I reading that correct?  Does that
tell me that one may never implement any software on Solaris or an
OpenSolaris based distro such that one may open, use, manage an XPS
document?  It seems to say that I must work with some Microsoft technology.

-
Dennis
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