

Microsoft yanks Custom XML from Word, offers OEM patch - KWD
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9142627/Microsoft_yanks_Custom_XML_from_Word_offers_patch_to_OEMs?taxonomyId=1

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CGamesPlay
Neither articles linked in this thread actually say /what/ the patent was.
Obviously XML namespaces aren't patented, so what was the patent infringed
upon?

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jws
Or as Paul McDougall at InformationWeek proudly proclaims:

 _Microsoft Word Gets Facelift_

[http://www.informationweek.com/news/windows/microsoft_news/s...](http://www.informationweek.com/news/windows/microsoft_news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=222100033&subSection=News)

But you don't need to read the article. There is nothing in there about
cosmetic improvements.

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felideon
Up until the news broke, I didn't even know this functionality existed for
Word. Doesn't InfoPath have the same functionality too, or is it slightly
different? I see no mention of InfoPath in any of the articles.

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viggity
I don't a problem with Software Patents per se, but I definitely have a
problem with what the USPTO considers to be novel/original/non-obvious

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flatline
This seems like it would be a good time for OEMs to start breaking the hard
link to Microsoft products, like bundling the installation media and not pre-
installing it, for starters. They could even go one further and not pre-
install all the other crap that typically comes on a new PC, problem solved...

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sgk284
Is this just an anti-microsoft rant?

I don't see your justification. OEMs update the software that they ship all of
the time. Microsoft products (i.e. Office, Windows, etc...) are typically the
things consumers _want_ , not bonzai buddy or whatever other spyware they put
on the machines. I don't see what the latter have to do with the former.

Pre-loading wanted software is a nice convenience, if you don't want that then
order the machine with FreeDOS as your OS instead (I know at a minimum that
Dell offers this).

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rbanffy
I prefer my computers to be as Microsoft-free as possible, but mostly on the
software side. Their keyboards and mice are outstanding.

As for software, there is no need to chose between Windows and FreeDOS. You
know, OpenSolaris, BSD and Linux are all fine options (and I regard them as
much better choices than Windows)

