Eolas patent workaround ready for implementation

Microsoft posted a few work-arounds on their developer network to deal with the Eolas patent covering plugins. The three work-arounds include embedding the plugin content directly in the HTML page as base64 encoded data, tagging content as non-external, thereby disabling external communication, and using external script to instantiate the content. Of these, only the last is backwards and cross-browser compatible.

The changes we’ll all need to make to our sites are quite straightforward…

Given the following sample code:

Replace it with an external script that generates this HTML:

function embedObject() { document.write('\n'); document.write('\n'); document.write('\n'); }

Reference the external script:

And then call the external function:


  embedObject();

This requires that JavaScript be enabled, but if someone turned off JavaScript it’s likely they’ve also turned off ActiveX controls.

The code above is from Macromedia’s Active Content Development Center. Macromedia worked with Microsoft on these solutions and is one of three companies listed on Microsoft’s web-site as a contributor to this solution, along with Apple and RealNetworks.

Important links:

11 thoughts on “Eolas patent workaround ready for implementation”

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No – please DON’T use the JavaScript hack to get around this probem…
http://www.sidesh0w.com/weblog/2003/10/06/the_eolas_matter.html

Paul,

That’s just great, complain about three provided work-arounds, say not to use any and do what instead, nothing? Idealism is great for blogs, but most of us live in a real world with paying clients that want solutions, not excuses.

Kind regards,

Sam