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Microsoft Word Ban Postponed, Stays on Shelves for Back to School
Judge Orders Permanent Stop of Microsoft Word Sales Within 60 Days
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whiteknight89 still plays DiabloII
09/04/09

In reply to Microsoft Word Ban Postponed, Stays on Shelves for Back to School
You really Excel at closing write-ups with clever endings, Mr. Allen. I was wondering, since you have such writing prowess, if you could help me find a Publisher for my new book. Its about how having a positive Outlook can help grant Access to untold millions, and help you find your Groove in life. I have been keeping OneNote here, and one note there, but I will pull it together soon. I just need to focus on my Project, learn some more Accounting, and buy a new Communicator.

Thanks for your help, Mr. Allen. I do appreciate from the bottom of my Microsoft Office.

I mean heart. Damn, so close. ;)
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met2art
09/04/09

@whiteknight89 still plays DiabloII: Do you need an Illustrator for your book?
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PaddyDugan
08/12/09

In reply to Judge Orders Permanent Stop of Microsoft Word Sales Within 60 Days
What did we learn today? Texas is a Republic that can withdraw from the Union anytime. What say we all encourage them to do so at the earliest opportunity. Oswald/Enron/Bush/Patent Settlements for Sale. Go away, Texas!
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DeusExMach will still be strong after the boys of Summermodo have gone. promoted this comment PaddyDugan was starred PaddyDugan was unstarred

DeusExMach wonders what the hell happened to his star.
08/12/09

@PaddyDugan: If only they didn't have all that wonderful wonderful crude.
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Lite: hates Illinois Nazis
08/12/09

@DeusExMach will still be strong after the boys...: I thought it was all about the bbq...
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PaddyDugan
08/12/09

@PaddyDugan: Dear Texas, I am sorry if I hurt your feelings. I will be your friend if you will give Calif. back all the $ you stole in the 90's.
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DeusExMach wonders what the hell happened to his star.
08/12/09

In reply to Judge Orders Permanent Stop of Microsoft Word Sales Within 60 Days

Man, FUCK the police.
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LeeMarvinsPants
08/12/09

@DeusExMach will still be strong after the boys...:
"Word."
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DeusExMach will still be strong after the boys of Summermodo have gone. promoted this comment LeeMarvinsPants was starred LeeMarvinsPants was unstarred

MacAttack7388
08/12/09

In reply to Judge Orders Permanent Stop of Microsoft Word Sales Within 60 Days
If anything, they shouldn't be allowed to sell it because of monopolistic practices.
But this? -_-
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SysRq promoted this comment MacAttack7388 was starred MacAttack7388 was unstarred

Delano_J
08/12/09

@MacAttack7388: Yes, selling stuff to willing customers is a monopoly. You're absolutely right, by gosh.
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FurySamurai72 promoted this comment Delano_J was starred Delano_J was unstarred

met2art
08/12/09

@MacAttack7388: Idiots who cry "Monopoly!" at the first mention of a microsoft (or Apple) product, or lawsuit , absolutely crack me up. Likewise with collusion and anti-trust.

So few who actually complain about such practices can actually define the specifics that legitimately determine such corporate criminality.

The futher issue is that these same individuals are often unwittingly submitting to monopolistic or duopolistic business structures, yet fail to notice or mention it. Too often it's simply ire brought about by bias or unfounded criticism, usually instilled by media or other corporations.

I Suggest you do some learning (but don't hurt yourself) before making ignorant statements.
[en.wikipedia.org]
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FurySamurai72 promoted this comment Edited by met2art at 08/12/09 3:31 PM met2art was starred met2art was unstarred

UnderLoK
08/12/09

In reply to Judge Orders Permanent Stop of Microsoft Word Sales Within 60 Days
Their patent (No. 5,787,449) is for a document system that eliminated the need for manually embed formatting codes.

Basically they patented any change to XML which the user didn't have to initiate manually. A simplistic example would be when you start a new paragraph the first letter is caps by default (that isn't meant as a literal example).

The bottom line is that the patent is BS which should be obvious when a company from Toronto sues a company from Washington in Texas.
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Edited by UnderLoK at 08/12/09 10:33 AM UnderLoK was starred UnderLoK was unstarred

cpthook
08/12/09

@UnderLoK: The Eastern District of Texas is a notoriously plaintiff friendly district. People come from all over the world to file there. It's a complete joke (unless you're the plaintiff, in which case it's awesome).
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SysRq promoted this comment cpthook was starred cpthook was unstarred

RJackson
08/12/09

In reply to Judge Orders Permanent Stop of Microsoft Word Sales Within 60 Days
Microsoft should just refuse and ignore whiny bitches like them.
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DeusExMach will still be strong after the boys of Summermodo have gone. promoted this comment MrBangBam approved this comment RJackson was starred RJackson was unstarred

DeusExMach wonders what the hell happened to his star.
08/12/09

@RJackson: Ignore whiney bitches like the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas?
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reddingofish
08/12/09

In reply to Judge Orders Permanent Stop of Microsoft Word Sales Within 60 Days
It's all a ploy to get older versions of Office off the shelves and off the worlds computers and forcing everyone to buy Office 2010.
It would not surprise me to login to my computer one day and Office was gone and a balloon popped up and said "We are sorry to inform you that your copy of Office 2007 has been removed from this system. Please go to store.microsoft.com to purchase the most recent version of Office 2010."
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SysRq
08/12/09

@reddingofish: Yes, this is all a stunt. It's really Microsoft behind the curtain, pulling all the strings, setting up fake trials and whatnot. Also, the moon landing was fake, the government puts nanobots in the water, and 9/11 was planned and carried out by the military in order to get support for a war in the middle east to get oil.
C'mon, grow up. I think your tinfoil hat is on a little tight.
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zmjjmz
08/12/09

@SysRq: Y'might want to recalibrate your sarcasm-radar a bit there.
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SysRq promoted this comment zmjjmz was starred zmjjmz was unstarred

SysRq
08/12/09

@zmjjmz: C'mon, there's no way I could have missed sarcasm. ;) Seems you caught me, my mistake. I knew something rather ridiculous was going on here. Perhaps it's the nanobots in my brain.
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citizensmith: I may be stupid but:
08/12/09

In reply to Judge Orders Permanent Stop of Microsoft Word Sales Within 60 Days
But even notepad will open an XML file. Notepad++ even makes it pretty colors. Do I have to get rid of those too?
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SysRq promoted this comment

MrCrash
08/12/09

In reply to Judge Orders Permanent Stop of Microsoft Word Sales Within 60 Days
Why did they wait this long? Office 2003 came out near the end of 2003, which means it took them over 5 years to figure out that their patented ideas had been infringed upon. I understand that Microsoft is a little company with a very small user base, and that of all their products, Office 2003 rated very low in acceptance, but COME ON! There should be a time limit to find and fight these kinds of things.
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holyspidoo
08/12/09

@MrCrash: Not only should there be time limits, but patents should be specific, not vague, and there should be a limited number of patents per company (spinoffs included). That way, it would stop companies patenting everything that exists, ever.
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SysRq promoted this comment holyspidoo was starred holyspidoo was unstarred

SysRq
08/12/09

@holyspidoo: *ahemappleahem*
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DeusExMach wonders what the hell happened to his star.
08/12/09

@holyspidoo: "oooh, sorry guys. You're just TOO innovative and/or good at acquiring companies with unique Intellectual Property. No new patents for Youuuuuu!"
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John Nahajski
08/12/09

In reply to Judge Orders Permanent Stop of Microsoft Word Sales Within 60 Days
lol the title was a little misleading, i read it as they will have to stop selling word altogether, but they just have to take the xml shiz out
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Jesus Diaz promoted this comment John Nahajski was starred John Nahajski was unstarred

Jesus Diaz
08/12/09

@John Nahajski: Obviously, your reading and comprehension skills are not up to its full potential in the mornings. The injunction IS against Microsoft Word. You can't take out the XML features.
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John Nahajski
08/12/09

@Jesus Diaz: "prohibits any sales, testing, and demonstration of any Word version containing the custom XML tagging feature" does that not mean they can't just go back to the old doc format? (p.s. it's 3pm here, i'm just an idiot)
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John Herrman
08/12/09

@John Nahajski: Yeah, modern Office wouldn't be Office without XML--it's the core of docx, for example--so it's pretty much a full injunction against Word. I would've though the whole suite would have been subject to the ruling.
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Maori_Yelir
08/12/09

@John Nahajski: It means that every copy on the shelves infringes on that but like hell they are going to listen to that. It's a bullshit ruling, they're just going to pay the fines that come from it and keep appealing.
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SysRq promoted this comment Edited by Maori_Yelir at 08/12/09 10:21 AM Maori_Yelir was starred Maori_Yelir was unstarred

Necoras
08/12/09

@John Nahajski: Office 2007's default saving format is .docx which is a custom xml file. Assuming this actually went through, this would cripple office. It won't happen, but if it did it would be a big deal.
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SysRq promoted this comment Necoras was starred Necoras was unstarred

John Nahajski
08/12/09

ahhh i see, well my college and work all use 2003 so im used to using Doc files
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SysRq promoted this comment John Nahajski was starred John Nahajski was unstarred

SysRq
08/12/09

@John Nahajski: And you will be able to continue to use .doc files after Microsoft appeals and pays a few fines. That's all this other company wants, is money. Odds are they'll get it and shut up.
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StupidSimple
08/12/09

In reply to Judge Orders Permanent Stop of Microsoft Word Sales Within 60 Days
Who gives a shit about DOCX, nobody can open that format anyway.
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Bigbadbikernerd
08/12/09

@StupidSimple: Anyone who uses Office and isn't stuck in 2000.
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StupidSimple
08/12/09

@Bigbadbikernerd: You can't force everyone to own an updated office software just to open a docx. Numerous times I requested people to save their files into a normal doc format just because of this.
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wishnias
08/12/09

In reply to Judge Orders Permanent Stop of Microsoft Word Sales Within 60 Days
is this that same bizarro court district that's been playing the vague tech patent lawsuit game for the last couple years?
I'm seriously tempted to apply for a patent for 'logical systematic arrangement of 1's and 0's for the purpose of doing computer stuff' and see who I can get a judgement against.
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UnderLoK promoted this comment wishnias was starred wishnias was unstarred

UnderLoK
08/12/09

@wishnias: Yes... That is why a Toronto based company is suing MS who is from Washington in Texas.
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Edited by UnderLoK at 08/12/09 10:23 AM UnderLoK was starred UnderLoK was unstarred

wishnias
08/12/09

@UnderLoK: hypothetical question: if the software was never used/sold in the state, would there then be no grounds on which to file suit there? I'm imagining a future where all tech firms boycott Texas just to avoid lawsuits. I hear they want to seceed anyway...
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Dr. Evil Genius
08/12/09

@wishnias: They have always wanted to secede. Why not do annoying things to hasten their departure?
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UnderLoK promoted this comment Dr. Evil Genius was starred Dr. Evil Genius was unstarred

UnderLoK
08/12/09

@wishnias: They still could, yea. It's just that same damn court that likes to make headlines.

@Dr. Evil Genius: Texas, Florida, and Michigan all sleep together, but being from MI I sure as hell don't want to wind up being part of Ontario (no offense .ca, but our unemployment is bad enough).
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Edited by UnderLoK at 08/12/09 2:44 PM UnderLoK was starred UnderLoK was unstarred

TexasRed
08/12/09

In reply to Judge Orders Permanent Stop of Microsoft Word Sales Within 60 Days
Bah, this is the same ol patent happy place in east Texas that will pretty much award anybody that has a patent for anything.
There is a reason all these patent whores file in this judges district.
Still, MS will just pay up and move right along.
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Serolf Divad
08/12/09

In reply to Judge Orders Permanent Stop of Microsoft Word Sales Within 60 Days
Suddenly I'm just a bit less pissed at Microsoft for patenting XML word processing docs.
Seriously, though,the patent system is a joke.
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OMFG! Horny Manatees!
08/12/09

In reply to Judge Orders Permanent Stop of Microsoft Word Sales Within 60 Days
I'm pretty sure that the Judge and all his office buddies used Word and Excel to plan, coordinate, document, and archive that court hearing as well as every other one he has ever done....
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Jesus Diaz promoted this comment

Sea Chicken
08/12/09

@OMFG! Horny Manatees!: Most likely. Office is the defacto productivity suite standard, just as Windows is the defacto desktop OS standard.
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