MS loses patent appeal; Word and Office to be barred from sale starting January 11th - Polidicks

[quote=Engadget] It's getting closer and closer to check-writing time for Steve Ballmer, as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has just upheld a decision that would see Microsoft Word and Office banned from sale starting January 11. If you'll recall, Microsoft lost a patent infringement suit against XML specialists i4i back in May when it was found that Word's handling of .xml, .docx, and .docm files infringed upon i4i's patented XML handling algorithms, but the injunction against further Word sales was put on hold pending the results of this appeal. Now that Microsoft has lost once again, we'd expect either another appeal and request for the injunction to be stayed, this time to the Supreme Court, or for a settlement between these two that would end this whole mess right now. We'll see what happens -- stay tuned. P.S.- Just to be clear on this, i4i isn't a patent troll -- it's a a 30 person database design company that shipped one of the first XML plugins for Office and was actually responsible for revamping the entire USPTO database around XML to make it compatible with Word back in 2000. What's more, the patents involved here don't cover XML itself, but rather the specific algorithms used to read and write custom XML -- so OpenOffice users can breathe easy, as i4i has said the suite doesn't infringe. Existing Office users should also be fine, as only future sales of Word are affected by the ruling, not any already-sold products. [/quote] Original article: [url]http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/22/microsoft-loses-patent-appeal-word-and-office-to-be-barred-from/#comments[/url] holy shit UPDATE [quote]Microsoft says it's moving quickly to prepare versions of Office 2007 and Word 2007 that don't have the "little-used" XML features for sale by January 11, and that the Office 2010 beta "does not contain the technology covered by the injunction," which can be read in a number of ways. It's also considering an appeal, so we'll see what happens next. [/quote]

What the flying fuck? Ah well, as people in the comments say, the company will end up being bought by Microsoft themselves. Bye lawsuit!

Open Office is much more easy to use anyway. you can take your disagrees and sodomize yourself with them

This is dumb.

And nothing of value was lost

Open Office is better anyway, so no problem there.

[QUOTE=thisispain;19128386]Open Office is much more easy to use anyway.[/QUOTE] Not really, i use it all the time, and its a piece of shit.

[QUOTE=radioactive;19128411]Open Office is better anyway, so no problem there.[/QUOTE] Just as cluttered Java pos as MS Office... I'd use MS Office since I like it a lot more, but as I am a cheapskate I use OO since I use it like twice a year.

Eh, I've used both, and either one works good enough for me.

I love everything about OpenOffice except its PowerPoint.

[QUOTE=evilking1;19128456]Just as cluttered Java pos as MS Office... I'd use MS Office since I like it a lot more, but as I am a cheapskate I use OO since I use it like twice a year.[/QUOTE] It's more like the older Office, which I'm used to.

[QUOTE=mobrockers;19128435]Not really, i use it all the time, and its a piece of shit.[/QUOTE] It's not a piece of shit but it's not quite as good either. This sucks.

So it's prohibiting the sale of Office? What if, by some miracle, Microsoft decided to start including the Office Suite on their operating system for free?

What bull.

[QUOTE=Daolpu;19128744]What if, by some miracle, Microsoft decided to start including the Office Suite on their operating system for free?[/QUOTE] Huh? First all they legally can't from January the 11th, unless they pay up fast and second if they could they would lose millions and millions of dollars in revenue from not selling office seperately. Not to mention the antitrust lawsuits that would there would be.

This is bullshit, now how am i going to make Freelancer mods now?

[QUOTE=windwakr;19128770]XML handling algorithms? What the fuck. I has MS as much as everyone else, but that is complete BULLSHIT.[/QUOTE] [quote]I has MS as much as everyone else[/quote] You has Microsoft?

I still use 2003, so what ev.

that's almost the same as saying: "hey you are walking the same as me I'm going to SUE YOU"

Already bought it anyway. Open Office is okay. But something with it doesn't feel right to me

Serves 'em right.

Does this mean torrenting them would then become legal? (You can answer my question, if you want, instead of rating me dumb)

Nothing grinds my gears more than douches who abuse patents. Come on, REALLY? Are you really trying to say you own, say, Motion control? Or all Office-Like Programs?

[QUOTE=radioactive;19128522]It's more like the older Office, which I'm used to.[/QUOTE] True, but it's still a huge resource waster by using Java.

college students are fucked.

[QUOTE=Simplemac3;19130733]Nothing grinds my gears more than douches who abuse patents. Come on, REALLY? Are you really trying to say you own, say, Motion control? Or all Office-Like Programs?[/QUOTE] I refuse to accept that this thread will degrade into a 'come up with a ridiculous patent' thread

[QUOTE=Mr.Dounut;19130864]college students are fucked.[/QUOTE] Not really, Office 2009 (that those poor bastards will just torrent probably) is more than good enough for writing a 500-word essay about something that is in the book.

-snip- think i missed something there

[QUOTE=Splurgy;19130684]Does this mean torrenting them would then become legal? (You can answer my question, if you want, instead of rating me dumb)[/QUOTE] No, first M$ gets the money off from you, then the other company slaps a patent infringement lawsuit on you.

But I fucking love Microsoft Word :(