Microsoft: Losing Word?
How tiny Canadian firm i4i could force Microsoft Word off U.S. shelves through a Texas court
Microsoft founder Bill Gates
(Reuters/Corbis/Stefan Wermuth)
Talk about a “David and Goliath victory,” said Matt Hartley and Barry Critchley in Canada’s National Post. “Tiny Canadian company” i4i Inc. has taken software giant Microsoft down a notch, winning $230 million in damages in a U.S. patent-infringement case and, more painfully, getting a permanent injunction against Microsoft selling Word in the U.S. The loss of its “iconic” word processor would cost Microsoft billions a year.
“We’re not smart enough” to understand all the details of U.S. District Judge Leonard Davis’ ruling, said Ashby Jones in The Wall Street Journal, but the “long and short” of the ruling is that Microsoft has 60 days to either pull Word 2003 and Word 2007 from the shelves, or tweak the software so it doesn’t rely on i4i’s XML architecture.
The long and short of it is that Microsoft won’t let Word leave shelves “even for a day,” said Ina Fried in CNET News. With two months to work, Microsoft will either get an appellate court to stay the injunction, reach a settlement with i4i, or bypass i4i’s “custom XML” through a technical workaround.
Still, while the loss of .DOCX, .DOCM, and .XML files “is bound to make Microsoft pretty angry,” said Calvin Robinson in Sporkings, it would be a huge boon to the Free Software Foundation and other advocates of “open” document formats, which let users open and save files regardless of software or operating system.
Show: Oldest | Newest
7 Comments
Posted by People don't get it, Thursday, August 13, 2009, 8:42 am Still, while the loss of .DOCX, .DOCM, and .XML files is bound to make Microsoft pretty angry, said Calvin Robinson in Sporkings, it would be a huge boon to the Free Software Foundation and other advocates of open document formats, which let users open and save files regardless of software or operating system.You dolt, you don't get it. This ruling will kill open source. You can't include any technology that is licensed. It would mean the end to any appliction that modifies XML outside of the document.
Posted by People don't get it doesn't get it, Thursday, August 13, 2009, 12:09 pm You dolt, you don't get it. This ruling will kill open source.Splain, please. Creative Commons allowed for individual use/copying but not mega corporations like microsoft that make money off of someone else's idea. Aren't most open source projects under CC license?
Posted by Aaron, Thursday, August 13, 2009, 2:05 pm My guess is that i4i will be assimilated.
Posted by Michael Taylor, Thursday, August 13, 2009, 2:20 pm Their distincitiveness will be added to the collective.
Posted by Gary, Thursday, August 13, 2009, 4:21 pm My solution: use WordPerfect! The latest version is X4 14. It is STILL better and easier to use than any version of Word.
Posted by Mark, Friday, August 14, 2009, 7:56 am The patent has nothing to do with XML itself, it's with one method that MS used in the DOCX format. If you want some informed opinion on how this might affect open source, go over to Groklaw where PJ already has a lengthy article.
Posted by GD, Friday, August 14, 2009, 9:58 am As a software developer and entrepreneur, I'm a big fan of IP. But, the patent game is way out of control. It's shocking to see what patents hold up in court. Too often, I suspect, because the defendant is unwilling to bite the bullet and challenge the patent's merit in the first place for fear of undermining their own IP.
Post a Comment