What?s Coming Up in the World of IT: No More Word?

A recent court case in the United States has thrown up a worrying verdict for Microsoft. It turns out that Word is illegal, and they’ve been ordered to stop selling it to US customers. The case resolves around a patent dispute relating to the new DOCX file format supported by Word 2007, which uses the eXtensible Markup Language (XML) to store data. A Canadian company called i4i claim that they hold a patent relating to the use of XML in Word which Microsoft is infringing. The judge in the case has ordered that Microsoft pay $290 million compensation and stop selling Word in 60 days time. So is this the end of Microsoft Word? With the full weight of Microsoft behind it, we think, to plagiarize Mark Twain, that reports of Word’s demise have been greatly exaggerated.