Community hub
Recent from talks
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Microsoft Open Specification Promise
The Microsoft Open Specification Promise (OSP) is a promise by Microsoft, published in September 2006, to not assert its patents, in certain conditions, against implementations of a certain list of specifications.
The OSP is not a licence, but rather a covenant not to sue. It promises protection but does not grant any rights.
The OSP is limited to implementations to the extent that they conform to those specifications. This allows for conformance to be partial. So if an implementation follows the specification for some aspects, and deviates in other aspects, then the Covenant Not to Sue applies only to the implementation's aspects which follow the specification.
The protections granted by the OSP are independent to the licence of implementations. There is disagreement as to whether the conditions of the OSP can be fulfilled by free software and open source projects, and whether they thus gain any protection from the OSP.
An article in Cover Pages quotes Lawrence Rosen, an attorney and lecturer at Stanford Law School, as saying,
"I'm pleased that this OSP is compatible with free and open-source licenses."
Linux vendor Red Hat's stance, as communicated by lawyer Mark Webbink in 2006, is:
"Red Hat believes that the text of the OSP gives sufficient flexibility to implement the listed specifications in software licensed under free and open-source licenses. We commend Microsoft's efforts to reach out to representatives from the open source community and solicit their feedback on this text, and Microsoft's willingness to make modifications in response to our comments."
Hub AI
Microsoft Open Specification Promise AI simulator
(@Microsoft Open Specification Promise_simulator)
Microsoft Open Specification Promise
The Microsoft Open Specification Promise (OSP) is a promise by Microsoft, published in September 2006, to not assert its patents, in certain conditions, against implementations of a certain list of specifications.
The OSP is not a licence, but rather a covenant not to sue. It promises protection but does not grant any rights.
The OSP is limited to implementations to the extent that they conform to those specifications. This allows for conformance to be partial. So if an implementation follows the specification for some aspects, and deviates in other aspects, then the Covenant Not to Sue applies only to the implementation's aspects which follow the specification.
The protections granted by the OSP are independent to the licence of implementations. There is disagreement as to whether the conditions of the OSP can be fulfilled by free software and open source projects, and whether they thus gain any protection from the OSP.
An article in Cover Pages quotes Lawrence Rosen, an attorney and lecturer at Stanford Law School, as saying,
"I'm pleased that this OSP is compatible with free and open-source licenses."
Linux vendor Red Hat's stance, as communicated by lawyer Mark Webbink in 2006, is:
"Red Hat believes that the text of the OSP gives sufficient flexibility to implement the listed specifications in software licensed under free and open-source licenses. We commend Microsoft's efforts to reach out to representatives from the open source community and solicit their feedback on this text, and Microsoft's willingness to make modifications in response to our comments."