[webkit-dev] EOT Support in WebKit

[David Hyatt]

On Oct 17, 2008, at 10:35 AM, Peter Kasting wrote:

> I'm not convinced that supporting EOT in the no-DRM way Hixie  
> proposes is harmful, although I wish it weren't needed.

My problem with this idea is that it's one thing to support a DRM-free  
open format. It's another thing entirely to support a format that uses  
DRM and then willfully ignore the DRM.  I'm not a legal expert, but  
the latter looks much more like the browser is knowingly violating  
desired restrictions.

> Still, it's not harmful to users (or technically impossible) in the  
> same sort of way that, say, supporting every ActiveX control would  
> be.  Scanning the W3 thread very briefly, it looks like all the DRM/ 
> licensing-related issues are people's main complaints about EOT  
> (that and "without them this doesn't buy you anything over TTF",  
> which is probably true, but IMO somewhat irrelevant).
>

The big problem is if you support it, EOT wins.  We may as well remove  
the TTF code path from the tree.  EOT is unwieldy to use, doesn't  
support the full range of TTF, contains URL restrictions that make it  
cumbersome to stage (access control could work much better).

> I think you misstate yourself on the bug when you say Chrome is  
> unwilling to take the patch.  What you asked on IRC was whether one  
> of us (i.e. the Mountain View-based Chrome folks) was writing the  
> patch.  We weren't, but that doesn't mean we're opposed to taking it.

Ok, fair enough.  It would be good to get an official position from  
Google on this (maybe even on www-style).  Right now the message I'm  
getting from Google folks is very muddled.

> If it landed we would probably be happy to have it, though I am not  
> sure; it really came out of the blue for us so I'm not sure we have  
> a well-defined opinion.  In any case, please do not say things like  
> "neither Safari nor Chrome wants this".
>

Ok.  It would be good to get an official position from Google.  The  
other browsers all expressed official positions in the W3C on this  
issue.  I believe Google needs to do the same.

dave
(hyatt at apple.com)