JediAthos Posted December 23, 2009 Share Posted December 23, 2009 Office workers of America, enjoy your Christmas break. Because come the new year, things could get a little hairy around the office. Microsoft Word is now scheduled to be prohibited from sale beginning January 11, 2010. That's less than three weeks away. The good news: Microsoft has promised a fix, one which will be rolled out before the deadline arrives. If you don't understand, you might have simply missed this story, or dismissed it as something that Microsoft would ultimately use its considerable clout to have pushed under a legal rug. But it's no joke. In August of this year, a court sided with a small Canadian company called i4i that holds a 1998 patent on the way the XML language is implemented, finding that Microsoft was in violation of that patent. The result: Microsoft was told to license the code in question from i4i or reprogram it, or else Microsoft Word would have to be removed from sale in the market. The original ruling gave Microsoft until October to get its legal affairs in order, but appeals pushed that out a bit. Now a federal court has upheld that original ruling -- plus a fat, $290 million judgment against the company -- imposing the new January 11 D-Day on the matter. Microsoft Word and Microsoft Office will both be barred from sale as of that date -- though naturally you'll still be able to use copies of Word and Office that you already own, and Microsoft will be allowed to keep supporting those copies. Unless Microsoft ships the promised technical workaround very quickly, things are going to get extremely dicey in the computer world, and fast. Not only will retail outlets selling shrinkwrapped copies of the software be affected, computer manufacturers (who complained loudly about this injunction when it was announced) who bundle Word and Office on the computers they sell will also be seriously impacted by the ruling. There's always a chance things will change again as the January 11 deadline approaches, but if your company requires Word or Office to keep operations running, it might not be a bad idea to stock up on a few extra copies now. -Blog by Christopher Null via Yahoo!(http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/null/158160) I thought this was a particularly interesting article and unless Microsoft can fix the issue they stand to lose some money I'd say. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghost Posted December 23, 2009 Share Posted December 23, 2009 damn, i was hoping for more updates on word. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astor Posted December 23, 2009 Share Posted December 23, 2009 It's not the end of the world, though. That Yahoo article doesn't even mention the fact that Word 2010 and Office 2010 don't contain the technology that they've been prohibited from selling, so it's not like Word is going to die on January 11. All this might do if a fix isn't issued, is prevent further sales of 2003 and 2007. "Therefore, we expect to have copies of Microsoft Word 2007 and Office 2007, with this feature removed, available for US sale and distribution by the injunction date," it said. "Beta versions of Microsoft Word 2010 and Microsoft Office 2010, which are available now for downloading, do not contain the technology covered by the injunction," Microsoft added. BBC Article on Ban Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrrtoken Posted December 23, 2009 Share Posted December 23, 2009 OpenOffice 4 lyfe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JediAthos Posted December 23, 2009 Author Share Posted December 23, 2009 Ah..you're right Astor...I didn't see anything about that. Of course that might be due to the fact that the article on Yahoo! was a tech blog. The author apparently didn't do a whole lot of research before he wrote it. @PastramiX I use Open Office myself and find it to be just as good if not better than MS Office. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trench Posted December 23, 2009 Share Posted December 23, 2009 OpenOffice 4 lyfe. QFT Wow, it really surprises me that Microsoft has done something wrong.[/sARCASM] I'll stick with Open Office. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sabretooth Posted December 23, 2009 Share Posted December 23, 2009 It's not the end of the world, though. Pun opportunity missed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
True_Avery Posted December 23, 2009 Share Posted December 23, 2009 Does... Does this mean I get previous versions of Word for free?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChAiNz.2da Posted December 23, 2009 Share Posted December 23, 2009 I just use notepad >.> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Q Posted December 23, 2009 Share Posted December 23, 2009 Yay! ChAiNz! I just told my folks to hold off buying Microsoft Office until version 2010 comes out anyway. And $290 million is hardly a dent in M$' revenue. Hell, that wouldn't even scratch the paint. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrrtoken Posted December 23, 2009 Share Posted December 23, 2009 Wow' date=' it really surprises me that Microsoft has done something wrong. [/quote']...it's Microsoft. Forming corporate trusts and snuffing out the competition is their favorite pastime. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jae Onasi Posted December 23, 2009 Share Posted December 23, 2009 OpenOffice 4 lyfe. Amen to that. I like it better than Word anyway, and it's freeware. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sabretooth Posted December 24, 2009 Share Posted December 24, 2009 ...it's Microsoft. Observe the ' ' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrrtoken Posted December 24, 2009 Share Posted December 24, 2009 Observe the ' 'He edited it in after I posted it. >_> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trench Posted December 24, 2009 Share Posted December 24, 2009 He edited it in after I posted it. >_> The ":xp:" was in the original post. I edited in the "[/sARCASM]. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Det. Bart Lasiter Posted December 24, 2009 Share Posted December 24, 2009 tyvm i4i fight the power Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ForeverNight Posted December 27, 2009 Share Posted December 27, 2009 Eh, I think I'm glad I've stuck w/ Office Profession '97 now As for OO, I hate it's resource management, slows my computer down far more than any office software should Oh well, I now have a basis for my Office '07 hate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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