On Apr 27, 2006, at 8:30 PM, Kevin Waterson wrote:
This one time, at band camp, "Shel Belinkoff"
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
IMO, it's an important issue, and the survey, regardless of the bias,
may/could be a starting point for deeper and more valid
discussions, as
well as a possible impetus for changes.
I agree that is is most important, the DNG of Adobe is cause for
concern as
manufacturers line up (Hasselblad, Leica, Ricoh, and Samsung) to
have thier
camera have the DNG format native to thier bodies.
Along with this software manufactures will need to support
DNG also. But its an open standard so what is the problem? well,
the license from
Adobe stipulates..
"Adobe may revoke the rights granted above to any individual or
organizational licensee
in the event that such licensee or its affiliates brings any patent
action against Adobe
or its affiliates related to the reading or writing of files that
comply with the DNG Specification."
How is that open?? If the format is not under the GPL and the
source code not available, then it is
next to worthless as a universal format.
I have never tried converting from DNG to PEF or other RAW formats,
so I cannot say what sort of losses that
may incur.
Adobe is a large commercial entity, call me synical but these sort
of dangling carrots leave me somewhat
suspicious. If it were truely an open format, why not open source it?
Nearly every Open Source code base worth working with has a "large
commercial entity" as its custodian. With teams of lawyers dedicated
to keeping the Gordian knot of GPL requirements and rules straight
too, I might add. Much legal hell is traversed trying to Open Source
something, and many companies use Open Source as a dumping ground for
dead software projects that *ought* to be dead.
I went through several iterations of software releases that included
having Open Source components. It's a nightmare I don't wish to repeat.
I'd MUCH rather work with Adobe's quite fair and sensible DNG agreement.
BTW:
You convert from PEF and other RAW formats to DNG, not the reverse.
It is a lossless conversion.
Godfrey
