Lessig needs no introduction: a very well-reasoned and productive argument.
The following was posted by Lawrence Lessig on June 21, 2006. http://www.lessig.org/blog/
Just got off the plane to Rio where we're holding the second iCommons iSummit, so this is a bit delayed. But today, Microsoft has released a free Office plug-in that enables you to mark Office documents (Word, Excel and PowerPoint) with Creative Commons licenses. This has been in the works for a while, and is an extremely cool development. The plug-in will modify the FILE menu, adding an item "Creative Commons" and then when selected, link the user out to the CC site to select a license to be inserted into the license. The first document licensed with the tool is a speech by Brazil's Culture Minister and supercool musician, Gilberto Gil, about tropicalism. (en) (pt).
Before I got on the plane yesterday, I was on some press calls about the announcement. Many were surprised CC and Microsoft would work together. Ever the naive law professor, that surprise surprises me. Office is a tool for creating. Giving the creator more control over that creativity is a way to make the Office platform more valuable to creators. And by incorporating CC licenses, more valuable to the public.
"But isn't it strange for MSFT and Lessig to team-up?" I was asked. Well, I have yet gotten the team jersey, but no, it isn't. Microsoft has been on the right side of a number of important issues spectrum, net neutrality, identity and I'm very glad they're on the right side of this issue too. Giving creators the tools to mark their creativity with the freedoms they intend it to carry is a fantastically good thing to do.
"But it's just for the Windows platform, isn't it?" True enough. Now we need some enterprising sort to make a plug-in for Office on the Mac, as well as Garageband, OpenOffice, and many others. Let the competition begin.