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By that reasoning Microsoft didn't prevent others from writing .doc-compatible word processors either - they just defined the format as basically a memory dump

By that reasoning Microsoft didn't prevent others from writing .doc-compatible word processors either - they just defined the format as basically a memory dump of Word :) This is how a company implements measures that could be a legal problem: By formally making a technical decision and having the actual goal as a by-product of that decision.

p_l 7y ago
> By that reasoning Microsoft didn't prevent others from writing .doc-compatible word processors either - they just defined the format as basically a memory dump of Word :) It's funny because for years MS kept officially supported, feature complete, portable format for use in interchange, while DOC being shared was kinda unintended consequence that just wasn't fought against. The very requirements of the original DOC spec required it to be a memory dump.