PDF format (was: Re: BitKeeper licence critic)

[MJ Ray]

=?iso-8859-1?Q?Wolfgang_J=E4hrling?= <wolfgang at pro-linux.de> wrote:
> [...] It appears to me that PDF is as acceptable as the Java language, and
> given that "the GNU project fully supports the Jav= a language" (see
> <http://www.gnu.org/software/java/java.html>), I doubt there are any
> problems with that one.

Some of us are concerned by any "standard" that is controlled by a single
vendor company.  The same for PDF as it is for Java.  That on its own does
not make it not free (for some value of freedom), but it does make it a
little worrying: what if the vendor decides to do X, Y or Z to block Free
Software tools?  Can we successfully fork the standard?