Microsoft says public will face hardship without Word on the market in appeal
By Mike Ferro
In preparation of the continuation of the legal battle between Microsoft and i4i next month, the Redmond-based company released a list of reasons why the injunction against Word must be lifted. One of the reasons revolves around the public’s dependency on Word. Other reasons blame the court for ruling in favor of i4i.
According to PC Mag, Microsoft listed out four reasons why the judgment against the company regarding Word is baseless. Some of reasons Microsoft listed seem quite valid, while others seem quite ridiculous as if the company could not find enough reasons to list.
The four reasons Microsoft listed are:
- Microsoft stated that the district court committed legal errors in regards to the current judgment.
- The company will incur irreparable damages if its flagship product is removed from the market.
- Apparently, i4i’s main product, which is an add-on to Word, will not be affected by the outcome regardless.
- Microsoft indicated that the public would face ‘hardship’ if Word was taken off the market for an extended period of time.
I agree with Microsoft that this lawsuit is fairly frivolous and most likely will not affect i4i’s core businesses. Ironically, if Word is taken off the market i4i would be hit harder than Microsoft from a software reliance perspective. However, I suppose if i4i overcomes the appeal and gets a $390 million payout, that could make it worth while for the company.
The most amusing reason Microsoft gave in the appeal is the public ‘hardship’ argument. I highly doubt that the public would face any type of hardship without Word on the market. I am currently still using Word 2003 and have no plans of running out and buying the latest version. Also, during a recent business trip, the desktop I was accessing at the conference did not have Word installed on it. I simply popped open Google Docs from my Gmail account and I was good to go. Did I face any hardship without Word? Not at all.
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