housegroover Posted October 10, 2004 Share Posted October 10, 2004 Under a judge's orders to disclose sensitive details about some of its software, Microsoft Corp. wants to publish the information in a protected electronic format that is awkward to use and can be viewed only using Microsoft's own Web browser software, the government complained in court papers. The Justice Department and 17 states that negotiated a landmark antitrust deal with Microsoft said the company's current plan "significantly limits the practical usability" of the information Microsoft was compelled to reveal to its competitors. Microsoft said it was cooperating to resolve such concerns within the next 60 days, adding it believes it needs to keep the sensitive information from falling into the hands of companies that haven't agreed to license its technology. One of the most important provisions of the court-approved settlement requires Microsoft to permit competitors to license parts of its technology to build products that seamlessly communicate with computers that run Windows software. Microsoft also must disclose the appropriate technical documentation. The government said Microsoft's preferred format doesn't support sophisticated search techniques to make the information easier to navigate and effectively prevents rival software engineers from making notes. It also can be viewed only using Microsoft's own browser software, the government said. Microsoft's lawyers contend that the protected document format, known as "MHT," could be viewed through rival Web browser software designed to support it; the company acknowledged, however, there are no non-Microsoft browsers that currently can view such files. "All along we've maintained the importance of trade secrets and the intellectual property in the technical documentation," spokesman Jim Desler said. "While maintaining that security, we want to make it as easy to use for licensees as possible." The company's lawyers praised the MHT format as offering "the best available combination of navigational and usability features, familiar viewer interface, ability to handle very large document files and security." Full Artical: http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=12952 Source: ninemsn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xxpor Posted October 10, 2004 Share Posted October 10, 2004 never heard of mht, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
temple_treefrog Posted October 10, 2004 Share Posted October 10, 2004 I'm not a Microsoft "fan-boy" or against Microsoft, but it does seem unfair how Microsoft wants to distribute the information to its licensees. MHT isn't the most efficient format around and it looks like they want to apply DRM (Digital Rights Management) or similar attributes to the information. I can understand that Microsoft wants to protect their information from unauthorised persons, but that format might not provide the licensees with all the tools needed for anaylsis. Anyone else to comment? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
temple_treefrog Posted October 10, 2004 Share Posted October 10, 2004 never heard of mht, I think its the compiled HTML help files that are displed in Microsoft HTML Help Control program.. To see a MHT file, open Internet Explorer, click on Help->Contents and Index and there's a a MHT. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elliot Posted October 10, 2004 Share Posted October 10, 2004 MHT is a technique of saving a whole webpage (e.g. pictures, html, etc) into a single file. You can try it in Word. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nelsinho Posted October 10, 2004 Share Posted October 10, 2004 thanks for the info :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Japlabot Posted October 10, 2004 Share Posted October 10, 2004 fire up that Internet Explorer if you remember where you left that shortcut and then go to a page and go to File> Save As...> The check the file types you can save as. I don't think this is that big a deal, this isn't like some crappy activex control, and mht files can be converted to HTML using Internet Explorer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
webeagle12 Posted October 10, 2004 Share Posted October 10, 2004 they just dont wonna goverment to start using FIrefox :whistle: :whistle: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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