On Tue, Aug 18, 2009 at 09:47, Michael Adams wrote: > The patent applies to a technique used in .docx save format. Microsoft will > surely stick to the XML .docx and .docm formats.
If Microsoft sticks to the .docx format, then they will have to pay i4i royalties for the use of the process that the patent covers. > It is one that they poured millions into, to push through as an ISO standard > in competition to the ODF format. This is the first of the submarine patents in ISO/IEC 29500:2008 to be publicly revealed. That Microsoft doesn't own it, might be enough to torpedo the implementation of ISO/IEC 29500 in any version of MSO. >> Besides M$ already has almost all the money they'll make from Office 2003 >>and 2007. > Negate the smoking comment, you must be mainlining. Windows 7 is due for release later this year. Office 2010 is due for release second quarter 2010. Between those two data points, Microsoft probably has earned most of the revenue from Office2007 (and WinVista) that they can earn. (Don't bother claiming that WinXp revenue is earning anything for Microsoft. At best, it is subsidizing WinVista sales until Win7 can be released.) _If_ MSO 2010 is released on schedule, then Microsoft might not be adversely affected by the prohibition on selling MSO2007, especially if within 45 days they can distribute a patched version of MSO2007 that complies with the court injunction. Also note that Microsoft is appealing the prohibition. >This is serious bulls*!t. If Microsoft's PR flunkies can conduct their astroturfing fast enough, and with enough credibility, then Microsoft might be able to sweep everything under the rug, and thus minimize the financial impact to Microsoft. However, _Government Computer News_ reports that some Federal Officials are concerned about the future availability of MSO. Which implies that the astroturfing campaign either failed miserably, or got started too late to be effective. If those federal officials do get MSO dropped, then the choices are: * WordPerfect; * Lotus Symphony; * StarOffice; * OOo; * Google Office; There might be one or two other contenders, but that basically is the line up. Whoever the federal agencies pick up, gets a big boost in business use credibility. jonathon --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected] For additional commands, e-mail: [email protected]
