30 June 2006

Creative Commons Licenses Added to Microsoft Office

As you may already know, I'm a fan of Creative Commons licenses, because they allow authors to promote the dissemination of their ideas and their work using one of many carefully designed licenses. One such license is featured on this blog. Instead of publishing under the default almighty "All rights reserved", placing severe restrictions on the reuse and re-purposing of their works; creative commons licenses empower authors and publishers to decide exactly what rights they want to retain as opposed to retaining "all rights".

Microsoft has recently offered the option to embed Creative Commons license in Word documents, Excel workbooks and PowerPoint slide descks; by offering a new Microsoft Office add-in. Great idea!

PS: with this Firefox extension, you can instantly view creative commons licenses embedded in web pages.