Microsoft Says Word Ban Threatens Industry

PC World ^ | 20 August 2009 | Gregg Keizer

[TomOnTheRun]

Is that why Microsoft Office continues to be the best selling office software at retail year after year for decades, bringing in billions of dollars every year in sales and profits, as consumers DECIDE by themselves to dip into their pockets and buy it?

I think you underestimate the power of inertia to carry bloated non-innovating tech along.

[Still Thinking]

I believe it’s a reference to Office 2007 changing your font style by just cursoring over one of the graphical “styles” at the top of the interface.

Oh, yeah, now there's a "feature". [ facepalm ] Sounds like 2007 is even more annoying than 2003, which I recently ditched for an upgrade to 97 -- "The Best Office Yet(tm)".

[Still Thinking]

Even if Microsoft ultimately succeeds on appeal, it will never be able to recoup the funds expended in redesigning and redistributing Word, the sales lost during the period when Word and Office are barred from the market, and the diminished goodwill from Microsoft's many retail and industrial customers," the company said.

Elsewhere, Microsoft painted a bleak picture for users. "Even if the injunction will not affect Microsoft's existing Office customers, consumers and businesses who require new copies of Office and Word would be stranded without an alternative set of software."

The second is absurd to the point that they should find him in contempt of court or something. There's Open Office, which I don't like as well as Office. Corel still sells WordPerfect. I assume you can still get Lotus' Suite. But the point is there are MANY alternatives. People don't have them because they don't come pre-installed on their computers, but there are many alternatives.

But what would it mean if the second statement is true? It would mean the first statement is a lie. If Office were so irreplaceable that users would be at a loss without it, how can you say MS would permanently lose the sales from the embargoed period??? Obviously, when MS wins, which according to their story line they will, and Office is back in stores, there would be a big spike in excess sales equal to what would have been sold during those months. These guys can't even make one whiny, falling-sky forecast without contradicting the last one. Or are they saying that once people find out there ARE alternatives, the damage to MS would be permanent? And that it might spread to other MS products?

That having been said, I have no idea how the technology in question could be patentable, but I haven't followed the issue so that doesn't mean very much.

[papasmurf]

In a perfect world, that would be fine. But, as a consumer who has bought that product, I would strongly object to that. I can only imagine the thousands of businesses that that would sue MS, as well.

One can only guess at how a patch would affect us. LOL

The world of users has created, probably, billions of documents using those features, and without them, we wouldn’t be able to read those documents properly. Nor would they interact with the myriad of other documents we’ve created that allow need those features to operate as advertised. A whole new category of error messages would, in all likelihood, appear. hahaha

[papasmurf]

The patent number in question is: #5,787,449, and it can be found HERE

Method and system for manipulating the architecture and the content of a document separately from each other

Abstract

A system and method for the separate manipulation of the architecture and content of a document, particularly for data representation and transformations. The system, for use by computer software developers, removes dependency on document encoding technology.

A map of metacodes found in the document is produced and provided and stored separately from the document. The map indicates the location and addresses of metacodes in the document.

The system allows of multiple views of the same content, the ability to work solely on structure and solely on content, storage efficiency of multiple versions and efficiency of operation.

[Still Thinking]

Did MS steal the plaintiff's invention or did MS base it's idea on embedded CSS and just apply it to it's own version of XML?

It doesn't matter if the end implementation is the same, and if the patent is valid. If two parties independently invent something and the first guy patented it, the second guy doesn't get to use his invention just because he made it without reverse engineering the first guy's.

Now a lot of software-related patents are complete bull spit (patenting the "shopping cart" or an obvious mathematical algorithm) and this may be one of them, so that's why I keep including a disclaimer in all my posts.

[papasmurf]

I4I's response to their "Texas" lawsuit...

"The driving factor behind i4i's decision to choose Texas as a venue for the trial was the fact that our legal team is based in Dallas. The court is actually under federal, not state jursidiction and maintains a high degree of patent expertise."

[SmokingJoe]

“”The driving factor behind i4i’s decision to choose Texas as a venue for the trial was the fact that our legal team is based in Dallas. The court is actually under federal, not state jursidiction and maintains a high degree of patent expertise.”

Yeah right.
So there are no Federal Courts in Seattle?
And is Seattle not very close to i4i’s offices in British Columbia, Canada, in addition to having Microsoft's massive headquarters with all their lawyers, and witnesses from the company there?
Did i4i go and get this legal team of theirs in Texas because they wanted to push the case in potent troll friendly Texas, or they have had these attorneys since the company was founded?
And why on earth would a company chose their legal team thousands of miles from where they operate their business anyways?
Are there no smart, powerful law firms in Seattle? They sure are not fooling me with this ridiculous story.

[taxcontrol]

MS dug this hole and put their customers in this position. MS should be responsible for their error and the damages that their errors cause.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

a life of fonts jumping for no apparent reason.

Gad...how I hate that.

[ShadowAce]

Hmm. It seems like Microsoft is digging itself a pretty deep hole here.

[goldstategop]

Open Office is now a viable replacement for Microsoft Office. Its free and cross platform - Microsoft cannot make that claim for its own office suite!

[DTA]

The irony is in the name of the plaintif is i4i - (an) eye for (an) eye, $290M for theft.

[GreenLanternCorps]

This case is a textbook example of why you should not be able to patent software.

Copyright it, yes.

Patent the manipulation of electronic signals, no.

[AFreeBird]

Microsoft's existing Office customers, consumers and businesses who require new copies of Office and Word would be stranded without an alternative set of software."...

I use OpenOffice.. runs on Windows, Linux, Mac. Works fine for me.