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WhyUseOpenFileFormats

Whenever you save something on a computer, the program you're using saves all of the information in a file that uses an encoding called the file format.

Different programs use different file formats. Some file formats you might be familiar with are

• Images: jpeg, gif, png, tiff, bmp
• Formatted Text: MS doc, word perfect
• Portable Document: postscript, pdf,
• Spreadsheet: MS xls

Unfortunately, many software companies do not release information about how data is stored in the files that their programs create.

As a result, if you want to read a file that someone else created in a proprietary file format, you have to buy software from the company that created the original software tool.

It is true that some companies, such as Microsoft and Adobe, have released free 'viewers' for their proprietary file formats, but unfortunately these tools are not always available for Linux or other operating systems.

So what do we do?

People working on Linux and other operating systems often have to ReverseEngineer closed file formats, a lengthy and difficult process. Although many have had success using reverse engineering, there is a much better option: use open file formats.

Open file formats solve this problem: if the file format is clearly specified in some kind of documentation, then developers creating a program can conform to those rules and have a perfectly interoperable program.

One other problem with proprietary file formats is licensing issues.

For example, with the GIF file format, it is illegal to write a program that creates or views that type of image without paying licensing fees to the company with the patent (in this case, Unisys). Ordinarily this wouldn't be such a big deal, were it not for the fact that Unisys allowed unfettered use of the GIF format for many years, only recently changing their license.
Because they own the patent, they are fully within their rights to let people use it for free, but then change the license (and make people pay anything they want) when there is software dependent upon it.

So, basically, using open file formats can avoid a lot of these problems with interoperability and licensing.

RobinsonTryon - 17 Oct 2002