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Re: Player Pro and Packages

• To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
• Subject: [mg88014] Re: Player Pro and Packages
• From: David Reiss <dbreiss at gmail.com>
• Date: Tue, 22 Apr 2008 06:25:46 -0400 (EDT)
• References: <200804150947.FAA24752@smc.vnet.net> <fu4fnb$nkc$1@smc.vnet.net>

On Apr 21, 2:38 pm, AES <sieg... at stanford.edu> wrote:
> In article <fuhr0n$ri... at smc.vnet.net>,
>  Jean-Marc Gulliet <jeanmarc.gull... at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> >  From the Adobe Developer Connection website:
>
> > "The PDF specification was first published when Adobe Acrobat was
> > introduced in 1993. Since then, updated versions of the PDF Reference
> > have been made available from Adobe via the Web. A significant number of=

> > developers and systems integrators offer customized enhancements and
> > extensions to Adobe's core family of products. Adobe publishes the PDF
> > specification to foster the creation of an ecosystem around the PDF
> > format. The PDF Reference provides a description of the Portable
> > Document Format and is intended for application developers wishing to
> > develop applications that create PDF files directly, as well as read or
> > modify PDF document content."
>
> >http://www.adobe.com/devnet/pdf/pdf_reference.html
>
> > (Note that this is why open source as well as non-Adobe commercial
> > software can legally read and create, and even add goodies to, PDF
> > files. To name a few: OpenOffice, PDFCreator, Mac OS X, ...)
>
> Thanks much for this.  Seems to me that Wolfram, and those thinking of
> Mathematica notebooks as a widespread publication or communication
> format, should seriously ponder the middle sentence
>
>    "Adobe publishes the PDF specification to foster the creation of an=

>    ecosystem around the PDF format."
>
> --- an ecosystem, note, which does not directly require anyone, authors
> OR readers, to purchase any Adobe products.



Perhaps I am missing something here...  but the notebook specification
is fully published by Wolfram.  Also, Mathematica Player is free...
it is only the intermediate product that has a cost associated with
it.

Perhaps the question is whether it is permitted to write a competitor
to Player...  that of course is a different intellectual property
question.

--David

• References:
  • Re: Player Pro and Packages
    • From: John Fultz <jfultz@wolfram.com>