Jumping on the bandwagon of OpenRAW, Microsoft decide to make the PR machine work by announcing partnership with camera manufacturers to provide RAW support in the upcoming and still delayed Longhorn version of Windows. They claim that they'll solve the RAW issue by providing APIs to software vendors. Source CNet. Off course, they are proud to have attracted the major camera manufacturers that decided to be in.

That announcment is FUD. Providing a proprietary solution for the monopolistic and proprietary operating system on the market does not solve any issue that OpenRAW is trying to solve, unlike Edmund Ronal says (this article is FUD too). It just address a usability problem with RAW by being able to read them on Windows Longhorn out of the box. But Windows Longhorn does not exist.

This announcement might be even more of a bad news when it comes to free desktops like GNOME as they may get the usual answer "but we support Windows". Let's not be fooled by this. It is just part of a global strategy for world domination, and I'll do my best to help GNOME people do the same freely. Freedom is an important concern.