Building an IE plugin on top of Mozilla source sounds so appealing and yet disturbing at the same time. A Mozilla/Cairo SVG plugin for IE does sound like it could be a viable technical solution (though I have no exposure to the source to say how big an undertaking it'd be). I don't know what the licensing implications are though.
>From a quick search, both pieces of code appear to be available under the Mozilla Public License http://www.mozilla.org/MPL/MPL-1.1.html (Cairo is also optionally available under LGPL). Such a plugin should make rendering and features pretty consistent across Mozilla & IE. --- In svg-developers@yahoogroups.com, "Jeff Schiller" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > We can't rely on Microsoft, just like we shouldn't have been > comfortable relying on Adobe, to do the right thing and implement > native support for SVG for free. There are business considerations > that will always take priority. Even if they do it, I fear > compatibility issues - their browser engine is still the worst of the > major browsers out there. > > So where are the open source, cross-platform SVG 1.1 viewers ? What > about taking the Mozilla base and developing a browser plugin from > that for only SVG support? What about candidates like AmanithVG and > Renesis for a SVG 1.2 viewer? Let's get a list of all the candidate > open-source projects and contribute so that they flourish before Jan > 2008. > > And I agree with Jon - praise to Adobe for past support, but I cry > foul to MacroAdobe for this distinctly hostile gesture towards this > development community. They know there is no suitable replacement > for IE as of today. > > Jeff > > --- In svg-developers@yahoogroups.com, Jon Ferraiolo <jferrai@> > wrote: > > > > > > Margie, > > Thanks for the kind words. In terms of possible next steps, I > suggest > > finding a way to express your point of view (professionally, of > course) > > within a blog or a forum that Adobe would read. (I don't know the > degree to > > which Adobe monitors this forum and I am not sure what other > industry > > forums they read these days.) An important thing would be to give > detailed > > information about the business impact that you face. Adobe is > likely to be > > more receptive if a company speaks up and talks about any specific > > difficulties that they will face and what Adobe could do about > relieving > > those difficulties. Adobe is less likely to listen to people who > simply get > > up on their soapbox. (I already did that.) > > > > Jon > > > > Jon Ferraiolo <jferrai@> > > Web Architect, Emerging Technologies > > IBM, Menlo Park, CA > > Mobile: +1-650-464-7817 > > > > > > > > > > > > "Marjorie > > > Roswell" > > <mroswell@ > To > > om> svg- > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Sent > by: cc > > svg- > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > hoogroups.com > Subject > > Re: [svg-developers] > Re: > > Announcement: Adobe to > Discontinue > > 09/07/2006 05:03 Adobe SVG > Viewer > > > AM > > > > > > > > Please respond > to > > svg- > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > hoogroups.com > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Jon, > > > > That was beautifully written. Thank you for your work and advocacy > in the > > SVG community. What's the next step for our community to take, > regarding > > items 3, 4, and 5? > > > > Margie > > > > > > On 9/6/06, jon_ferraiolo <jferrai@> wrote: > > > > > > Hi Pat, > > > Now that I am a member of the community and no longer an employee > of > > > Adobe, here is my reaction: > > > > > > (1) First off, I believe that Adobe deserves a great amount of > > > appreciation for their contributions to SVG and the open standards > > > world for their activities in previous years. Adobe provided a > > > high-quality free implementation of an SVG viewer at large > expense. > > > (Pat, you know this perhaps better than anyone.) Adobe also has > > > provided (and presumably will continue to provide) excellent > support > > > for SVG in some of its products, particularly Illustrator. Adobe > has > > > also made large contributions within the standards community on > SVG. > > > > > > (2) It is understandable that at some point Adobe would announce > the > > > end-of-life for Adobe SVG Viewer. Since the Macromedia > acquisition (at > > > least, perhaps even earlier), it is clear that Adobe doesn't > consider > > > the SVG viewer to be strategic. Also, browsers are adding SVG > support > > > natively. > > > > > > (3) HOWEVER, I believe that some of the details regarding this > > > end-of-life announcement are unacceptable to the community and > not in > > > Adobe's own best interests. To me, it is OK to stop "support" > > > (presumably developer support and security fixes) on Adobe SVG > Viewer > > > in the relative near-term, but instead of giving four months of > > > advanced notice (i.e., 1/1/07), it should be something measured in > > > years, something in the range of 2-4 years. (Note: 5 years is the > > > usual amount for developer-oriented software.) > > > > > > (4) It reflects badly on Adobe that it did not donate the ASV > source > > > code (at least the higher-level logic that sits above the graphics > > > rendering engine) to open soure. If Adobe isn't going to use ASV, > then > > > it should give it to the community so they can use it. Given how > Adobe > > > promoted industry adoption of ASV in the early days and thereby > > > convinced many developers to build mission-critical applications > using > > > SVG, it is the least that Adobe could do. > > > > > > (5) But the worst part of this announcement is the removal of ASV > > > downloads as of 1/1/08, with no option for others to host a > different > > > ASV download site. As others have pointed out, this will be > > > devastating to those poor souls who made a commitment to ASV in > the > > > past and need their deployed SVG applications to continue working > in > > > IE, which today has something like 80% market share and is > unlikely to > > > support SVG natively before a couple of years go by. This > particular > > > decision reflects badly on Adobe as a business partner with > > > developers. If nothing else, I appeal to Adobe to rethink this > part of > > > their decision. How much does it cost a company to maintain a > single > > > web page that is already working? If ASV quits working in some > > > situations, such as ASV not running under Vista, then just add > text to > > > the download page alerting people that ASV has been EOL'd and is > known > > > not to work with Vista. (But the better approach would be to open > > > source ASV so that the community can fix any such bugs.) > > > > > > Jon Ferraiolo > > > IBM > > > > > > > Adobe has decided to discontinue support for Adobe SVG Viewer. > There > > > > > > > are a number of other third-party SVG viewer implementations in > the > > > > marketplace, including native support for SVG in many Web > browsers. > > > > The SVG language and its adoption in the marketplace have both > matured > > > > to the point where it is no longer necessary for Adobe to > provide an > > > > SVG viewer. > > > > > > > > SVG is an established vector image format. Adobe currently > supports > > > > SVG in several of its authoring and server products, including > > > > Illustrator, InDesign, GoLive, Version Cue, Graphics Server, > > > > FrameMaker, and FrameMaker Server. > > > > > > > > Adobe customer support for Adobe SVG Viewer will be > discontinued on > > > > January 1, 2007. > > > > > > > > For more information on this decision and answers to questions > about > > > > the discontinuation of Adobe SVG Viewer, please see > > > > > > > http://www.adobe.com/svg > > > > > > Messages in this topic > > > < > > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/svg-developers/message/ > 56704;_ylc=X3oDMTM2cGwwcGptBF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzEyOTg0MjEEZ3Jwc3BJZAMxNjAxMDMwMzg5BG1zZ0lkAzU2NzIzBHNlYwNmdHIEc2xrA3Z0cGMEc3RpbWUDMTE1NzU4OTQ0MgR0cGNJZAM1NjcwNA- > - > > >( > > > 12) Reply (via web post) > > > < > > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/svg-developers/ > post;_ylc=X3oDMTJxMXB1ZjZzBF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzEyOTg0MjEEZ3Jwc3BJZAMxNjAxMDMwMzg5BG1zZ0lkAzU2NzIzBHNlYwNmdHIEc2xrA3JwbHkEc3RpbWUDMTE1NzU4OTQ0Mg- > -?act=reply&messageNum=56723 > > >| Start > > > a new topic > > > < > > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/svg-developers/ > post;_ylc=X3oDMTJlaGJqa3IwBF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzEyOTg0MjEEZ3Jwc3BJZAMxNjAxMDMwMzg5BHNlYwNmdHIEc2xrA250cGMEc3RpbWUDMTE1NzU4OTQ0Mg- > - > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > > > > > > > > > > ----- > > To unsubscribe send a message to: > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > -or- > > visit http://groups.yahoo.com/group/svg-developers and click "edit > my > > membership" > > ---- > > Yahoo! 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