[Imc-aotearoa-tech] Re: Open print formats

[Andrew McNaughton]

On Sat, 23 Aug 2003, Danyl Strype wrote:

> Kia ora koutou ko Bobo,
>
> Quoting bobo at enzyme.org.nz:
>
> > Just a brief note - .pdf is not an 'open' format - as long as you also
> > have a
> > free/libre/open format (like ghostscript) then I'll give ya my vote. (not
> > that
> > we work by votes... (-; )

PDF is pretty much an open format these days.  While originally developed
as a proprietary format by adobe, it's now an ISO standard available for
use by any software developer.

There's plenty of free, open source pdf readers around.  I've been using
MGV for years, though I suspect there are better options.  MGV uses the
ghostscript engine, and it renders fonts rather better than acroread,
which is ironic given that font rendering really is adobe's core business.

> The reason we use .pdf currently (indymedia.org does too) is that most
> people have acrobat reader (same reason we use realmedia formats). It
> uses the Unisys-owned LZW compression that also makes .gif, .zip and a
> number of other file formats proprietary. These are old patents, any
> idea if/ when they run out?
>
> If we can configure the pages to help people autoload plug-ins/ readers
> for our open formats (DJVU format would be ok too) I would like to see
> AIM lead the charge in making this transition.
>
>

--

No added Sugar.  Not tested on animals.  May contain traces of Nuts.  If
irritation occurs, discontinue use.

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Andrew McNaughton           In Sydney
                            Working on a Product Recommender System
andrew at scoop.co.nz
Mobile: +61 422 753 792     http://staff.scoop.co.nz/andrew/cv.doc