December 23rd, 2009 | 
Author: Further Proof today that the Patent system is horribly outdated and insufficient, as the XML format that works behind MS word has been found to be breaching a patent held by a small company called i4i.
The reality is that the patent should never have been granted in the 1st place. XML is an open standard, it’s unpatenteable and can’t belong to anyone.
Let me dum this down for those of us that aren’t programmers.. the patent (http://www.patents.com/Method-manipulating-architecture-content-a-document-separately-other/US5787449/en-US/) says its a method of separating content from design using XML. In other words every single website using html, every modern office package (not just word) and a lot of custom software (some of which I have written myself) all uses a similar method. You can’t patent against it because it’s not theirs to begin with.
-Also, just a thought.. for the price of the $250 million they are settling for, why don’t Microsoft just buy the company and dissolve it? Problem solved.
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