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Re: DAISY reader et al
Probably way out of my depth here (nothing new in that), but I would
imagine that if someone is going to go to the lengths of making you
sign a NDA to gain access to the specs that this would also preclude
providing source because anyone who has the sources would be able to
determine the specs fairly easily without having to sign the NDA.
Probably the only way we could provide the sources and not get into
strife for breaking a NDA is if someone just reverse engineered the
software without having signed any NDA with Daisy. However, if its is
as ugly and complex specification as Raman indicates, then this would
be a non-trivial task.
The only other alternative I can think of is if someone is prepared to
sign the NDA, write the software as a stand alone application and
distribute it in binary form. Then it should be trivial to create an
emacs/emacspeak interface to it which would not infringe on the GPL
nature of emacspeak or emacs.
Tim
>>>>> "Janina" == Janina Sajka <janina@xxxxxxxxxxx> writes:
Janina> I understand this and agree that protecting GPL takes
Janina> precedence. What I'm unclear about is whether the NDA
Janina> actually prevents publishing source with the
Janina> unpacker. I'll have to reread it. I know that sounds
Janina> crazy.
Janina> On Tue, 14 May 2002, T. V. Raman wrote:
>> X-UID: 7304
>>
>> With respect to your second question -- Re: my signing an NDA
>> with RFB/Daisy to implement a reader for unpacking their books
>> --I will do no such thing --primarily because such an NDA will
>> definitely tie my hands with respect to open sourcing the
>> implementation.>>>>>
>>
>> In fact their policy as you describe will preclude any open
>> source implementation, since their security by obscurity will
>> not survive an open source implementation. This is also the
>> reason why I have not bothered doing
>>
>> anything with bookshare. "Janina" == Janina Sajka
>> <janina@xxxxxxxxxxx> writes:
>>
Janina> Hi, Raman: Thanks for the explanation. I know that
Janina> book. It's rather old, so was written to an interim spec
Janina> from about 3 years ago. It was an influential book at the
Janina> time because it demonstrated important concepts we wanted
Janina> to capture in the spec, but it is no way representative of
Janina> the final ANSI Z39.86.
>>
Janina> I will get you copies of reference books as soon as some
Janina> are available. In fact, I've already asked about the
Janina> status of these. Some are in process at NLS, and others
Janina> will be available from DAISY. Please recognize, though,
Janina> that it will be some time--years actually--before
Janina> DAISY3/ANSI Z39.86 content is generally available to
Janina> patrons of various libraries for the blind around the
Janina> world.
>>
Janina> What is available now is content encoded in DAISY 2.02. I
Janina> strongly suggest support for this spec, because this is
Janina> the spec usd by RNIB, CNIB, and RFB&D, to name but a
Janina> few. I'm referring to thousands of titles available
Janina> through these programs. Some of this content is text plus
Janina> audio, most is audio only.
>>
Janina> I can also get yopu reference content for DAISY 2.02, and
Janina> would be glad to do so. The spec is at
Janina> http://www.daisy.org/publications/specifications.asp where
Janina> it's available online and as a zip download.
>>
Janina> Here's the critical question regarding RFB&D books. Are
Janina> you willing to sign an NDA with DAISY in order to get the
Janina> spec for unpacking RFB&D content?
>>
Janina> Yes, they opted for an obscurity based security solution.
Janina> Much could be said about why, and why it should be
Janina> different. But, that's another discussion.
>>
Janina> The point here is that RFB&D will be shipping CD ROMs
Janina> encoded according to an unpublished specification
Janina> available to developers willing to sign an NDA with DAISY.
>>
Janina> On Mon, 13 May 2002, T. V. Raman wrote:
>> >> Here is what happened --
>> >>
>> >> I ran into Markku Hakkinen at the W3C Cannes plenary >>
>> reception in early March and when I asked him on the >> status
>> of things in DaisyLand --he told me about the >> myriad of
>> commercial players being built for Windows. >> So I asked him
>> for a sample so I could write one for >> Linux.
>> >>
>> >> Along with a copy of the Daisy 3 spec, he gave me >> "The
>> complete fairy tales of Charles Perrault" >> allegedly in in
>> Daisy3 format -- after coming home I >> wrote a player for it
>> one evening.
>> >>
>> >> I say "allegedly" above because the navigation xml >> file I
>> got from him does not validate either against >> the DTD he
>> gave me then or the eventual Daisy3 spec.
>> >>
>> >> The functionality that is implemented is documented >> in
>> the online info pages; when and if Daisy3 content >> becomes
>> available --and that content is something I >> want to read
>> i.e., not just fairy tales-- I will >> probably add to what the
>> emacspeak daisy player does.
>> >>
>> >> >>>>> "Janina" == Janina Sajka <janina@xxxxxxxxxxx> >> writes:
>> >>
Janina> Raman; Ann's question about the DAISY reader in Emacspeak
Janina> 16 reminds me to ask a similar question of you.
>> >>
Janina> The docs say this is a device for reading
Janina> DAISY3content. But, there are yet no titles in this
Janina> format. Indeed, I'm not aware that DAISY has yet adopted
Janina> ANSI Z39.86 as DAISY3, though they certainly will.
>> >>
Janina> So, here's the question ...
>> >>
Janina> What titles did you test with?
>> >>
Janina> --
>> >>
Janina> Janina Sajka, Director Technology Research and Development
Janina> Governmental Relations Group American Foundation for the
Janina> Blind (AFB)
>> >>
Janina> Email: janina@xxxxxxxxxxx Phone: (202) 408-8175
>> >>
Janina> Chair, Accessibility SIG Open Electronic Book Forum (OEBF)
Janina> http://www.openebook.org
>> >>
Janina> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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>> >>
Janina> --
>>
Janina> Janina Sajka, Director Technology Research and Development
Janina> Governmental Relations Group American Foundation for the
Janina> Blind (AFB)
>>
Janina> Email: janina@xxxxxxxxxxx Phone: (202) 408-8175
>>
Janina> Chair, Accessibility SIG Open Electronic Book Forum (OEBF)
Janina> http://www.openebook.org
>>
Janina> --
Janina> Janina Sajka, Director
Janina> Technology Research and Development Governmental Relations
Janina> Group American Foundation for the Blind (AFB)
Janina> Email: janina@xxxxxxxxxxx Phone: (202) 408-8175
Janina> Chair, Accessibility SIG Open Electronic Book Forum (OEBF)
Janina> http://www.openebook.org
Janina> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Janina> To unsubscribe from the emacspeak list or change your
Janina> address on the emacspeak list send mail to
Janina> "emacspeak-request@xxxxxxxxxxx" with a subject of
Janina> "unsubscribe" or "help"
--
Tim Cross E-Mail: tcross@xxxxxxxxxxx
Analyst/Programmer Phone: 6773 3210
Applications Group Mobile: 0412 969193
University of New England
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