PC World: Microsoft Word to be Banned?

**Potemkine** · 09-21-09, 11:38 AM

http://www.pcworld.com/article/17149...be_so_bad.html

It looks like Microsoft has the advantage -- at least for now -- in its David vs. Goliath legal skirmish with Canadian software developer i4i, which recently won a patent infringement suit against the software giant.

A quick recap: Last month, U.S. District Court Judge Leonard Davis halted the sale of Microsoft’s ubiquitous word processors -- Word 2003 and Word 2007 -- in their current form after October 10. But a federal appeals court yesterday granted Redmond’s request to suspend the injunction. The ongoing battle centers on Word’s capability to create custom XML documents, a capability that i4i says infringes on its patent.

It’s extremely unlikely that Word will cease to exist. If i41 prevails, Microsoft will likely disable the offending feature, some patent experts predict. But what if it didn’t? Microsoft has warned of computer Armageddon if it’s not allowed to sell Word in its current form.

Computerworld’s Gregg Keizer, quoting from Microsoft’s emergency motion filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals, summarizes this dire scenario:

" 'Microsoft and its distributors (which include retailers such as Best Buy and OEMs such as HP and Dell) face the imminent possibility of a massive disruption in their sales,’ Microsoft argued in the motion. ‘If left undisturbed, the district court's injunction will inflict irreparable harm on Microsoft by potentially keeping the centerpiece of its product line out of the market for months,’ the firm's lawyers added. ‘The injunction would block not only the distribution of Word, but also of the entire Office suite, which contains Word and other popular programs.’ ”

Rubbish? You bet. But for the sake of argument, let’s say that Microsoft was forced to halt all sales of Word. Would the computing world as we know it cease to spin? Hardly.

First, there are plenty of alternative word processors out there, most of which read Word files perfectly well. Sure, there might be a few formatting glitches, but that’s to be expected during any file conversion. Microsoft Office users, particularly those who rely heavily on the well-honed integration between Excel, Word, Outlook, and PowerPoint, would experience the most problems. But, again, the ban would affect new sales of Word, not existing copies. So users would have time to develop workarounds.

Plus, there’d be one big silver lining to a Microsoft Word ban: A true universal document format could take hold, one that replaces today’s defacto standard -- Microsoft’s doc/docx -- that’s tied too closely to the whims of one software vendor.

Word ban? Sure, why not?

Contact Jeff Bertolucci via Twitter (@jbertolucci) or at jbertolucci.blogspot.com.

Heavy stuff.

**DancingCorpse** · 09-21-09, 12:03 PM

So my certification in the Microsoft suite could become completely worthless?! Fucking great.......

**Potemkine** · 09-21-09, 02:23 PM

What will Microsoft do? My money says that they will pay for past infringements on the patent and pay royalties to i41 for continued use of the xml format. My only question is though, why isn't open office tagged as well? Is it because they do not make any money off of it? They are technically stealing a patent and dispersing it without compensation to the patent holders.

**run32.dll** · 09-21-09, 02:35 PM

Microsoft will certainly figure something out. One thing is for sure, they won't be letting Word die over this. The article mentions alternatives to Word but fails to mention those alternatives suck. Open Office is in no way a true alternative. It's something to maybe deal with if you can't afford Word at the moment but pales in comparison. It takes much longer to open documents and the GUI is not nearly as well laid out or even aesthetically appealing. The only people who seem to even feign they legitimately prefer Open Office are people who hate anything made by Microsoft just because it's big, bad Microsoft.

**Potemkine** · 09-21-09, 02:37 PM

Originally Posted by run32.dll

The only people who seem to even feign they legitimately prefer Open Office are people who hate anything made by Microsoft just because it's big, bad Microsoft.

Not necessarily. Some people just may not have the money to drop $125 on a program. Thats how much I have seen it go for individually. In packages with BRAND NEW computers you get a collection for like $250. Kind of steep.

**run32.dll** · 09-21-09, 02:46 PM

I did say OpenOffice is good for when you can't afford Word but it is not directly comparable. It is good for free, but it is not as good as Word. Word is not that expensive though. For $130 you can get a 3 license copy (i.e. you can use it on up to 3 computers) of Office 2007 for Home and Students which includes Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. When you consider how important the software is for your use in education or business it really is not that expensive. People certainly spend far more on much more useless things. Anyone who bitches about the price of MS Office should consider how much they have spent on frivolous things before opening their mouths.

**Consultant** · 09-21-09, 02:52 PM

Whats the legal term for "discovering" something that already exists?

Comedians get away with it all the time, common thought or common spontaneous discovery or something?

If they can prove MS Stole the technology, that's one thing...but if their engineer came up with something that already existed - while not knowing that it already existed...isnt that a lessor offense?

Patent law is interesting stuff.

**Gumby** · 09-21-09, 06:11 PM

wait,
XML is an open standard.
How can you patent the ability to create an open-standard file format?

Am I missing something here?

**Red_Lizard2** · 09-21-09, 06:53 PM

OpenOffice.org (official name) is actually as good as Word and Excel imo. Sure some thing are different, but its not that bad. And for looking good, i don't really give a crap how well my WORD PROCESSOR looks.

Only let down is OpenOffice.org's powerpoint program, which is a bitch compared to Microsoft Powerpoint

**Potemkine** · 09-21-09, 06:56 PM

Originally Posted by Gumby

wait,
XML is an open standard.
How can you patent the ability to create an open-standard file format?

Am I missing something here?

According to the article, i41 a Canadian company owns the patent. I dont know for how long it is for, or how long they have left, but that is the gist of the article.