Judge orders Microsoft to stop selling Word

24

Comments

  • Reply 21 of 64
    vineavinea Posts: 5,585member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Beauty of Bath View Post


    .

    May I suggest:



    http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?s...90812144154814



    Indeed Groklaw in general for a better perspective on legal issues vis a vis software patents and the like.



    If you want a biased freetard POV, yes.



    What's really funny is she ignores the probable impact on ODF. As i said on the other thread, MS probably doesn't care that much to lose if it kills ODF in the US.
  • Reply 22 of 64
    ROFLMAO! Bout freggin time!



    iWork is safe (I think). Apple uses the OpenDocument code (sans Sun MicroSystems) or similar to read these files... Albiet not 100% correctly (you'll probably never notice).



    I'm only assuming it's the OD reader because NeoOffice and OpenOffice open this particular Word doc the exact same way. MS Word on PC or Mac open it correctly. It's a quad table embedded Table... That's a table inside a table inside a table.... Wierd, neat, different, I wouldn't do it that way...
  • Reply 23 of 64
    quadra 610quadra 610 Posts: 6,757member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by physguy View Post


    Reading the patent I would say this one may have legs. First, it is a specific implementation method for document/formatting separation. Second, the priority data - 1994 - is early enough that I couldn't dispute it as being original at the time.



    The patent is quite well written and reasonable to read.



    Can you imagine if Office is pulled rom the shelves? It seems a fairly remote possibility, but just consider that for a moment, and the resulting fallout.
  • Reply 24 of 64
    jazzgurujazzguru Posts: 6,435member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Quadra 610 View Post


    Can you imagine if Office is pulled rom the shelves? It seems a fairly remote possibility, but just consider that for a moment, and the resulting fallout.



    I use OpenOffice.org at home, anyway. It's cheaper. Businesses might be hit hard, though. Unless they're still running XP Pro and Office 2003 like mine.
  • Reply 25 of 64
    virgil-tb2virgil-tb2 Posts: 1,416member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by chronster View Post


    ... BTW, Greed DOES pay actually, and handsomely. I too would like to believe it doesn't, and that we live in a fair world, but that's not the case.



    Just to be picky ...



    Greed only pays in the SHORT term. It's an established fact that in the LONG term greed *doesn't* pay.



    Greed is a individual strategy for the short term only. That's why they call it "greed" in the first place (one of the deadly sins etc.).
  • Reply 26 of 64
    virgil-tb2virgil-tb2 Posts: 1,416member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by vinea View Post


    If you want a biased freetard POV, yes. ...



    Anyone who would portray groklaw as a "biased freetard" has no credibility at all and isn't worth listening to.



    Sane people can disagree, but this kind of moniker is on the same level as calling Obama a "socialist." It paints you as an exaggerator at best, and more likely someone with a very big bias of their own.
  • Reply 27 of 64
    ronboronbo Posts: 669member
    Holy crap it's that East Texas court again. Isn't there some sort of special fence that could be built around that damned town? Really tall, enclosed over the top, and air-tight? It wouldn't have to stay up long. Just long enough for the people inside to use up all the air.



    On a more serious note, what I'd like to see from someone is some sort of statistic on how often these kinds of rulings are overturned in higher courts. As loony as this East Texas court is, I bet most of their rulings are overturned. At least I hope that's the case.
  • Reply 28 of 64
    djsherlydjsherly Posts: 1,031member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by physguy View Post


    Reading the patent I would say this one may have legs. First, it is a specific implementation method for document/formatting separation. Second, the priority data - 1994 - is early enough that I couldn't dispute it as being original at the time.



    The patent is quite well written and reasonable to read.



    Indeed, the patent predates xml itself http://www.w3.org/XML/hist2002



    sgml predates this patent but is not an implementation of itself http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standar...arkup_Language



    I wonder why this was not apparent at the time the xml was developed. I didn't read the full patent but everything reads like a xml with a stylesheet - content and presentation. If I've missed some nuance perhaps this could be pointed out?
  • Reply 29 of 64
    mdriftmeyermdriftmeyer Posts: 7,503member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by al_bundy View Post


    and this will affect Apple as well because the patent in question is a very broad and BS XML patent



    You think this patent is BS? Have you seen the patent Microsoft just received with XML for documents?



    Both should be thrown out.
  • Reply 30 of 64
    physguyphysguy Posts: 920member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by vinea View Post


    If you want a biased freetard POV, yes.



    What's really funny is she ignores the probable impact on ODF. As i said on the other thread, MS probably doesn't care that much to lose if it kills ODF in the US.



    This won't 'kill' anything. This is about money, not killing a given format/approach. MS makes tons of money from using this patent. If it continues to go against them they will be forced to license the patent for $$$.



    The body controlling ODF would also then have to consider a license. The $$ for that license need not be (nor would likely be) the same cost as MS as the controlling body doesn't make (much) money from the invention. This would be up to i4i. They could decide to release it under GPLx or other license as well. Lots of choices which don't kill anything.
  • Reply 31 of 64
    physguyphysguy Posts: 920member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by djsherly View Post


    Indeed, the patent predates xml itself http://www.w3.org/XML/hist2002



    sgml predates this patent but is not an implementation of itself http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standar...arkup_Language



    I wonder why this was not apparent at the time the xml was developed. I didn't read the full patent but everything reads like a xml with a stylesheet - content and presentation. If I've missed some nuance perhaps this could be pointed out?



    XML is just a standard or tool without method or application (a hammer not a house) which can be used to implement the methods of this patent. As such I can't see XML itself as a violation.
  • Reply 32 of 64
    magic_almagic_al Posts: 325member
    Obviously the Mac version is included in the ruling due to having the functionality at issue. I wouldn't worry about it going off the market anytime soon. The ruling does not apply to resellers and resellers are very well stocked.
  • Reply 33 of 64
    It's kind of funny when you hear the name i4i. It reminds me of an 'eye for and eye'
  • Reply 34 of 64
    buzdotsbuzdots Posts: 452member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Quadra 610 View Post


    Chances are, they'll find a way out of this before they have to remove product from the shelves.





    Yep there goes 1/2 the stock off the shelves of their new store.
  • Reply 35 of 64
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by vinea View Post


    If you want a biased freetard POV, yes.



    What's really funny is she ignores the probable impact on ODF. As i said on the other thread, MS probably doesn't care that much to lose if it kills ODF in the US.





    Any POV genuinely held by an intelligent individual or well informed group of individuals is worthy of consideration. Any POV that is not biased is to say the least most extraordinary.



    You paid how much to post on this board? And your opinion/comment is worth how much? Freetard? - methinks that describes you more than PJ.



    MS would love to kill ODF, MS would love to kill any other agreed standard. Why - because it would help them with their de facto 'Office' et al standards.

    .



    .
  • Reply 36 of 64
    ROFL. The US patent system is such a joke. I love America as much as I hate its patents sewer.
  • Reply 37 of 64
    aaarrrggghaaarrrgggh Posts: 1,609member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by physguy View Post


    Reading the patent I would say this one may have legs. First, it is a specific implementation method for document/formatting separation. Second, the priority data - 1994 - is early enough that I couldn't dispute it as being original at the time.



    The patent is quite well written and reasonable to read.



    SGML dates back to '86 as a standard, and XML is a subset of SGML. Since SGML is used for publishing, I find it hard to believe that it did not have sufficient functionality to warrant the innovation as "obvious".



    If this one is upheld, it will also impact OpenOffice.org and just about any project that writes files to XML.
  • Reply 38 of 64
    aplnubaplnub Posts: 2,605member
    Excel is the only MS Office program I use and feel there is no equal.



    Good thing I use Nisus Writer Pro I guess.
  • Reply 39 of 64
    mbmcavoymbmcavoy Posts: 157member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by djsherly View Post


    I wonder why this was not apparent at the time the xml was developed. I didn't read the full patent but everything reads like a xml with a stylesheet - content and presentation. If I've missed some nuance perhaps this could be pointed out?



    Skimming the patent, it seems remarkably different from XML. In fact the patent refers to SGML as prior art, and points out this differentiation.



    In XML, the content is marked-up inline, identifying the type of content bracketed in tags. The tags may rely on external style sheets or processing to determine how the contained content should appear, but the tag itself is inline to identify what content it applies to.



    This seems pretty typical in my knowledge and the prior art mentioned in the patent.



    With i4i's patent, the document content data is basically a stream of plain text, with no markup for formatting information at all. A separate data set contains all formatting information. (chars 0 through 23 are the "Title", with defined formatting, etc).



    Any software historians aware of prior art on this approach?



    Without digging into the details of Office's XML format, it seems they do something similar - Some nodes contain the raw text, while other nodes contain formatting information with indexes to the text. The fact that it is implemented using XML seems immaterial, and typical uses of XML/HTML do not infringe.



    It will be interesting to see how this goes forward.
  • Reply 40 of 64
    tbelltbell Posts: 3,146member
    Maybe it is just me, but why would somebody tell you what the announcement at an event will be when the event's purpose is to make that disclosure? Doing so would seemingly negate the need for the event, no?



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    Microsoft's Mac software development house responsible for Office for Mac (which includes Word), had previously scheduled a conference call with members of the press for Thursday afternoon. Prior to scheduling the event, Mac BU did not reveal what the announcement would be.



Sign In or Register to comment.