Aug 09
12
If you haven’t heard, I4i, a relatively unknown Canadian company has recently won a court case against software giant Microsoft. It seems Microsoft has been willfully selling versions of Microsoft Word (their word processor software) which clearly violated I4i’s patent (US Patent Number 5,787,449).
Microsoft is also under an injunction to not provide any support for any product or feature which violates this patent.
Now, to fully understand this mess, you’d need to be both an expert in law and an expert in computers. I am not a lawyer, but I’m going to guess the suit goes beyond the simple summary most news outlets are reporting. If it was just about storing the content and format of a document separately, the patent likely would be invalid due to a LOT of prior art in the similar areas. The bottom line is that I4i are ONLY bringing these law suits against Microsoft right now.
If you’d like to see what other word processor programs are available (many for FREE!), swing on by Just Works at 419 Amherst St. in Nashua and check out our demo machines. Just Works computers and Mandriva Linux installations come with OpenOffice, a free alternative to Microsoft Office. We can even install OpenOffice on most Windows computers and even Apple Macs!
Come on over and find out why Just Works offers the best computer support in the area.
