Dell and HP rush to Microsoft's defence

...if I were CEO of i4i..I'd take the $100m ...have a quiet word with Stevie B and negotiate a fee on each copy of word sold.

Of course, there could be an advantage for i4i to keep its patents, although I seriously doubt they can make enough for a ham n cheese sandwich without MS off xml.

But what do i know...im only an accountant and not a furry lawyer.

"It's not clear what a difference 120 days will make, but Dell and HP claim that would cheer them up a lot."

Firstly, gives them more time to negotiate a deal with i4i, and hopefully avert all this hassle.

But also means thay can continue to sell it through the christmas period and the january sales.

For you all that believe there is a fair system in place to grant every individual the same rights as everyone else you should WAKE UP. MS is above the LAW and they will end up winning no matter what.
The US will not rule in i4i's favour , simply put America needs to look after it's best interest , just like every other nation on this Plant.
It's the same for RIAA and everyone other Corperation , the NEED for Money out weighs the need for fairness and honur. We humans are so dumb. The thing that bothers me so much is why people defend these Morons and then complain when these HUGE Companys Fire and let go of thousands of people that thought that by dedicating there life to the Company they would be looked after ! only to be trashed out when no longer needed.
I dont see ANY difference why i4i should not be treated to the same level of standard as MS , but lets be honest....THAT WILL NEVER HAPPEN.
i4i a small Canadian company win a ruling against Microsoft ? LOL
Come on ! we all know where this is going.

I don't know where you're getting off thinking that i4i is some kind of great company that is being victimized by Microsoft. i4i is a patent troll, with a ridiculous patent on a *concept* that is incredibly general, to the point of stupidity (of the patent office). The patent is so general that if it is enforced, I could see an unbelievable number of applications fall victim to it, from web browsers, to games with datafiles in archives, to many ordinary documents.

The fundamental flaw is that the patent should not have been issued in the first place at all.

I agree with Nathand; mega-corporations like Microsoft are like some kind of disease or tumor which grows and feeds until it reaches some critical threshold, after which it begins to direct the "host" (USA, Canada, and much of the rest of the world) to do its bidding and ensure its continued survival and growth. Money almost always subverts democracy. Those who turn a blind eye to this process and continue to give their money to Microsoft are happily giving away their democratic rights in the process.

I also think that Nathand is very correct in that Microsoft has "no shame", as they blatantly bully other companies, exercise THEIR patents to extort money or sue others out of existence, bribe ISO members to get OOXML approved (subverting and placing at risk the integrity of an international quality assurance organization in the process).

However, I do not agree that there is no alternative but to give up and let Microsoft win all (or any) of its battles. Microsoft depends upon a set of tools (patents, money, the legal system) to attack others and defend itself, but these same tools expose it as a huge and very attractive target for others who have patents which it may have infringed upon. Microsoft is like a large, sluggish beast which cannot react rapidly to changes in the market or attacks from others (which could in some way be looked upon as "antibodies" fighting to remove this malignant company from continuing to dominate the world's economy and IT systems). Sure Microsoft will probably be able to defend or bribe its way out of this latest challenge from the little Canadian i4i (appropriately named - perhaps 2th-4-2th will be next?). But a coordinated attack from multiple companies, government agencies such as the EU, combined with a change in consumer buying ethics...that would end Microsoft's oppressive reign (and perhaps, allow that bloated corporation to be replaces with smaller open-source companies that comply with business ethics).

Lets all hope the mighty Vole gets a HUGE taste of their own medicine here, which is abuse of the patent system by an entirely incompetent USPTO (who will issue any patent for ANY thing).

Screw them - I hope they have to spend $1B to get this fixed.

HB

HP won't stop you from choosing 24GB of memory along with a 32-bit Windows.

Now there is a surprise for an end user, to find that your super high memory system craps out the first time you try to edit that movie of yours.

Then it is back to store to fork over more money for 64-bit Windows.

Nothing like a little double dipping of the customer.

there is no honour or fair play - there is only money

when a government gets involved, their first priority is money, then people are further down the list (somewhere after toilets and vomit)

governments are in bed with business, it is a sad reality that needs to be changed because public funds are used to make a handful of people rich.

I used to work for HP and I can confirm they are a$$holes.

So sticking up for Micro$oft doesn't suprise me in the slightest.

Neither Dell nor HP truely need to 120 days to rejig their images - it could be done in 4 weeks. The problem they have is that their internal procedures and processes are bloated (like their builds) and they are extremely unorganised.

Why not sue Microsoft for lost earnings? Winning that plus the i4i judgement would give Dell and HP a big amount of leverage on costs/prices with Microsoft.

Are we all blind? Why isn't there a huge focus on OpenOffice? It's free, but just as impressive as Microsoft's software. HP & Dell should consider other options (like OpenOffice) that would actually benefit their customers.