We can exchange simple images using the PNG (Portable Network Graphics) open format, which keeps the quality of image intact and also has a good compression. Being an open format, i.e. documented and without patents, any application may export PNG images and may take advantage of this functionality using free software libraries. Other known formats, like BMP, JPEG, GIF, have problems with big file size, loss of image quality or limiting of number of colors. GIF was also covered by a patent which expired recently. The Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) format is open and can be used for vectorial images.
But what will you do if you'd like to exchange an image with layers? You'll use the default format of the graphic design application you have, which is usually undocumented. Therefore you'll work with Adobe Photoshop or Corel Draw files, forcing your partners to use the same software product. GIMP, an image manipulation program similar to Adobe Photoshop, uses an open format to store images, but there is no official standard. Proprietary software producers don't want to offer support for open formats, as this will eliminate the dependency of their application. Although it's not done from their own initiative, they will offer this support if a large percentage of users require it.
For audio recordings there are now two efficient open formats, Ogg Vorbis and FLAC. The first uses a technique similar to MP3, eliminating sounds which can't be heard by human ear, and the second only compresses the files without any quality loss. As it's not necessary to pay a license fee to implement Ogg Vorbis support, this is used increasingly in portable players, games and broadcasting radio stations over the Internet.
Besides the MPEG1 standards, you can make video recordings using the Theora open format, which will compete with MPEG-4/DivX, Real and Windows Media. This is not yet finished, but it nears the completion.
Here are some examples of other open standards which refer to the way we send or access information:
Portable Document Format (PDF) is an open format which keeps the integrity of fonts, images and layout of any document, no matter the platform it's used on. Because of this property it became the de facto standard for changing and archiving documents.
World-wide governments and companies adopted PDF for an efficient management of documents, which raises the productivity and decreases the dependency for paper, usually used to keep the documents intact. OpenOffice.org 1.1 offers the possibility to export any document as PDF, being the first free office application allowing this on Microsoft Windows platforms.
Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) is a protocol for exchanging information in a decentralized and distributed environment, being used especially in web services. Google and Amazon are examples of sites which offer public web services using SOAP standard. You can use these services with already existing applications and software libraries, without investing time in implementing a new access method.
Jabber allows real-time exchange of messages between two users on a network. The most used service of Jabber protocol is Instant Messaging. Compared to other Instant Messaging systems (AIM, ICQ, MSN, Yahoo), Jabber is open, extensible, decentralized and secure. Anybody can run its own Jabber server, even with support for message encrypting when confidentiality is a must.
Structured Query Language (SQL) offers a standard access to different databases. With SQL you can develop and use applications which require database access without depending on a specific database server (Oracle, PostgreSQL, Microsoft, etc.). More complex features, such as large binary objects or XML queries, aren't yet covered by this standard and their implementation is different on every producer.
With the help of open standards we are creating a business environment where we can safely send documents without worrying if the contents and layout will be exactly the same for the receiver. Proprietary software producers try to stop this tendency, taking advantage of users's ignorance of standards, which creates dependency for specific software products and reduces competition.
You can also contribute to standardization by sending and requiring documents in open formats. All applications listed below run and are freely available as open source on Microsoft Windows, Linux, Mac OSX and other platforms.
References
GNOME Human Interface Guidelines
http://developer.gnome.org/projects/gup/hig/
OpenOffice.org
http://www.openoffice.org
GIMP
http://www.gimp.org
Ogg Vorbis
http://www.vorbis.com
Theora
http://www.theora.org
Jabber
http://www.jabber.org
PostgreSQL
http://www.postgresql.org
About the author:
Software engineer, nature lover and free thinker, enlightened in 1997 by free software. He's the founder of Galuna, a romanian provider of Linux-based IT solutions. He believes in freedom and art, spending his time working, discussing, listening to music and the sound of growing grass, contributing to the free software community, biking and contemplating beauties of the earth and universe."
- "Cooperation by Standards, Page 1"
- "Cooperation by Standards, Page 2"
