MobileRead Forums - View Single Post

eschwartz · 01-12-2015, 12:01 AM

This is the first time I have ever heard that "open" means "accessible using tools builtin to the OS"... tell me, does that mean that tar and its famous companion gzip are closed formats, because they requires third-party tools to handle (at least on Windows it certainly isn't required by the OS)?

I am sure Richard Stallman would be horrified to know one of the integral concepts of his whole universe, and another which was invented specially for GNU, are closed formats...

In case it wasn't blindingly obvious to anyone else as well

a closed format is one where the spec is a trade secret and one cannot make use of it without using the proprietary tools. I have chosen to define reverse-engineered formats as open, because practically speaking they are (technically there are two versions, open and closed, which in practice are basically identical).
A closed format is certainly not: a format which requires downloading and installing an open-source program to handle it, because that program didn't happen to come preinstalled with the base system.

Especially because I personally CAN edit AZW3 with my base system. My OS comes with calibre -- this is because I roll my own with Arch Linux.

[Unnecessary personal comment deleted - MODERATOR]

01-12-2015, 12:01 AM	#45
eschwartz Ex-Helpdesk Junkie Posts: 19,421 Karma: 85400180 Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: The Beaten Path, USA, Roundworld, This Side of Infinity Device: Kindle Touch fw5.3.7 (Wifi only)	This is the first time I have ever heard that "open" means "accessible using tools builtin to the OS"... tell me, does that mean that tar and its famous companion gzip are closed formats, because they requires third-party tools to handle (at least on Windows it certainly isn't required by the OS)? I am sure Richard Stallman would be horrified to know one of the integral concepts of his whole universe, and another which was invented specially for GNU, are closed formats... In case it wasn't blindingly obvious to anyone else as well a closed format is one where the spec is a trade secret and one cannot make use of it without using the proprietary tools. I have chosen to define reverse-engineered formats as open, because practically speaking they are (technically there are two versions, open and closed, which in practice are basically identical). A closed format is certainly not: a format which requires downloading and installing an open-source program to handle it, because that program didn't happen to come preinstalled with the base system. Especially because I personally CAN edit AZW3 with my base system. My OS comes with calibre -- this is because I roll my own with Arch Linux. [Unnecessary personal comment deleted - MODERATOR] Last edited by Dr. Drib; 01-12-2015 at 12:31 PM.