Microsoft recently made a move to “open†up its XML-based file formats for Microsoft Office 2003 and the forthcoming Office 12. These file formats were offered to ECMA International for consideration as a formal open standard. However, the “license†for these file formats was merely a promise not to sue people violating its patents on the use of the file formats. Read more here.
Also see these comments from a legal analyst regarding Microsoft’s Patent Protection Covenant.
Personally, a promise “not to sue†from any large corporation—not just Microsoft—wouldn’t be good enough for me were I a developer. Somehow, I don’t think that many developers are going to feel completely comfortable incorporating Office 2003/12 XML-based file formats into their applications based solely on the Patent Protection Covenant. What happens when (not if) the covenant changes?
