The Nillabyte Perspective: Technology

After being banned from selling its Office Suite, Microsoft claims that "major public disruption" will occur if Microsoft Office can't be sold. The software company says that the lack of sales will cause "irreparable harm" to itself as well as to retailers and OEM companies like Dell and HP. What Microsoft is really worried about is losing customers to Office alternatives.

Last week, a Texas judge found Microsoft guilty of infringing on an XML patent held by i4i, which Microsoft placed in Word illegally. The judge ordered Microsoft to halt shipments of Word and Office by mid October. As expected, Microsoft has filed an appeal stating:

Microsoft and its distributors (which include retailers such as Best Buy and OEMs such as HP and Dell) face the imminent possibility of a massive disruption in their sales. If left undisturbed, the district court's injunction will inflict irreparable harm on Microsoft by potentially keeping the centerpiece of its product line out of the market for months

Microsoft is absolutely correct, but it should have thought about that before it stole a patent. They are guilty, and if they lose sales, tough cookies. But what about companies like Best Buy, Dell, HP, etc who will be punished at no fault of their own? It's unfortunate, but no one is to blame but Microsoft.


What does all this mean for the customer? Microsoft is scrambling to produce a version of Office that does not contain the patented XML code, but it may not be ready before they are suppose to stop sales of the current version. Microsoft, feigning concern for customers while brainwashing them, also stated in the appeal:

Even if the injunction will not affect Microsoft's existing Office customers, consumers and businesses who require new copies of Office and Word would be stranded without an alternative set of software

That is complete bunk! The not so secret secret is that Microsoft doesn't want you to discover alternatives to Microsoft Office.

Google Docs, although not loaded with features, does a fine job for basic word processing, which is what most people need. And it's free.

My office suite of choice however is OpenOffice.org. It is a free office suite that you can download and install on your Windows Pc or your Mac. And yes, it is feature rich, and just as powerful as Microsoft Office. The only real difference is that OpenOffice.org hasn't infringed on any patents.

So, let Microsoft cry and complain that being punished for its own stupidity isn't fair, while in the meantime you can explore the Office alternatives Microsoft doesn't want you to discover.

If you need an office program and don't want to try the free OpenOffice.org, you can still get Microsoft Office while it is still available.