World, I mean Word Coming to an End!

I was shocked to learn today that some small company from America Junior (Canada, as Homer Simpson called it) claims to have a 1998 patent for the way Microsoft Word works (something about the XML implementation, like I know what that means) and they're forcing poor, poor Microsoft to stop selling Word and Office on January 11, 2010. This will screw over computer sellers and stores that sell Word and Office, and obviously it will screw over every business on Earth, every student on Earth, and every computer-using person on Earth.

So the world won't end on 12/21/12, it will end on 1/11/10, or the Word will anyway.

I think it’s patently clear (pun intended) that the Canadian company is a vengeful one, since its name is i4i.

Fortunately, the copies of Word and Office that we already have will still be supported by Microsoft, and hopefully they'll be able to fix the patent-infringing problem before doomsday.

UPDATE February 1, 2010
I guess I should have updated this on 01.11.10, but I guess I was too distracted by all the excitement of Binary Palindrome Day.

Anyway, Doomsday came and went, and both the world and Word continued to exist. Microsoft was forced to remove the XML thingie from all copies of Word 2007 and Office 2007 sold on or after that day, and they are required to pay $290 million in damages. Microsoft is appealing this decision, particularly the damages part, in hopes that they will reduce that massive sum, for the sake of the future (since they don’t want to set a precedent for such a large amount in damages).

I know it’s “wrong” to root for big business, but I can’t help it – I hope Microsoft succeeds.