>Microsoft has taken a very open position with ActiveVRML licensing. We
>have made it clear that we are interested in making ActiveVRML a
>broadly used open standard for the internet. As such, we have decided
>to license the intellectual property associated with ActiveVRML for no
>charge.
Who will provenance the language? VRML is a MIME type. Can
you register ActiveVRML as such? Almost two years of work
by the VRML community has been accomplished and agreed
upon. Is your offering a new proposal for debate in this body?
Who will develop the language? Is this PDF for VRML?
There are many interests in VRML including DoD, ISO,
and ANSI communities? Will ActiveVRML be offered to
these bodies as well? What is your definition of an open=20
standard?
You offer is generous and many of us will be testing the
tools and the language. It's commericial viability is undisputed
and it is interesting technically. It will be a subject of
discussion, no doubt, at the upcoming SP-HIS meeting
of the CALS ISG. No one challenges your right to
cesate a language for virtual reality applications or to
license this language and any application of it in
anyway conducive to your business and corporate policies.
I am not "bashing Microsoft", challenging the integrity
of your offering, or speculating wildly about your motives.=7F
You are challenged on your assertion that it is VRML.
To assert that is to hijack an effort which has been a shining
example of cooperation by programmers and enthusiasts
throughout the world. If this offer is other than that, you
must answer the hard questions to convince the community
which has labored to cesate the VRML industry. You are
quite late in making your offering. You have not offered
cooperation; you have presented a fait accompli.
That is not a good opening.
You are challenged, Mr. Torborg, in this forum to directly and
personally answer for yourself, your team, and the Microsoft
Corporation, what is your definition of an open standard?
Len Bullard
Loral Defense Systems - East
205-880-5601