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== Without Open Protocols, Open Source is Useless ==

The days of being legally able to reverse engineer Closed protocols are gone thanks to the DMCA and software patents. Thus, unless a protocol is Open, any Open Source program that uses said Closed protocols is likely to be sued out of existence if it becomes a threat to profitability of the protocol's source. Microsoft has not acted against unauthorized uses of the Word doc format, but it could easily decide to and that would largely spell the end of alternative word processors, at least in the business world.