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No Office For Linux, MS Patents Rejected

Posted by Zonk on from the no-shockers-here dept.

Bays Fil wrote to mention a ZDNet piece discussing the U.S. Patent Office's rejection of two Microsoft patents on the FAT file system. "There has been concern that if the FAT patents are upheld, Microsoft may claim that Linux infringes on Microsoft technology and will seek a royalty. Any monetary compensation could threaten the operating system, which under General Public License (GPL) terms may not be distributed if it contains patented technology that requires royalty payments." Relatedly, Dayrl writes "Microsoft reiterates its firm decision not to offer its Office Suite on Linux anytime soon. From the article: 'Microsoft is 100 percent focused on Windows: We have invested billions of dollars in it. We have created Office for the Mac but--and I thought I had been clear on this already when I said 'No'--we have no plans at this time to build Office on Linux,' Nick McGrath, Microsoft's head of platform strategy said.'

16 of 422 comments (clear)

  1. In other news by Junior+J.+Junior+III · · Score: 4, Funny

    The sky is still blue.

    --
    You see? You see? Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!
    1. Re:In other news by bebing · · Score: 3, Funny

      This would surely backfire on them, as in the process of adding 'cruft' to the product to make it crappy, they would unintentionally create something stable.

  2. too bad by grub · · Score: 5, Funny


    'No'--we have no plans at this time to build Office on Linux

    Too bad, I was looking for something other than DVD::RIP and distributed.net which would hammer both cores of my Athlon64 X2.

    --
    Trolling is a art,
    1. Re:too bad by FyRE666 · · Score: 1, Funny

      Too bad, I was looking for something other than DVD::RIP and distributed.net which would hammer both cores of my Athlon64 X2.

      Try the Gnome desktop...

      --
      Code, Hardware, stuff like that.
  3. what a bummer... by xao+gypsie · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...I guess I will just have to fork over the cash for OpenOffice

    ...wait a second..

    --


    xao
    http://TheHillforum.hopto.org
  4. Re:Billions? by smoondog · · Score: 2, Funny

    There was a typo:

    Microsoft is 100 percent focused on Windows: We have earned billions of dollars in it.

  5. Jonesin! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Oh man. I'm really starting to freak out! Gimme another Google story, man. I'll do whatever you want, man. Just give me another Google story!

  6. Obviously not 100% clear by poopie · · Score: 4, Funny
    'I thought I had been clear on this already when I said 'No'--we have no plans at this time to build Office on Linux,'
    considering how many times this has come up over the years and how many stories on slashdot have been focused on this exact topic, this is obviously not 100% clear.
    One must conjecture that there is something preventing this from being summarily dispelled...
    [tinfoil hat]like an internal group that maintains a port of Office to Linux and other unix variants?[/tinfoil hat]
    Let's recap our history:

    There is no OSX on Intel

    There is no iTunes phone

    There is no Palm running Windows

    Amiga is making a comeback

  7. Re:why feed the competition? by morgan_greywolf · · Score: 3, Funny

    Heck, I wouldn't even build notepad for Linux if I thought it would cause people to leave my main product.

    Maybe not, but apparently they have their own version of vi.

    --
    My blog
  8. Nobody expects Microsoft!! by rlp · · Score: 4, Funny

    Nobody expects Microsoft!! Our two weapons are Office and our Windows monopoly. Wait ... three ... our three weapons are Office, our Windows monopoly, and our fanatical devotion to Bill Gates ... no ... amongst our weapons are Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt, Office, our Windows monopoly, and our fanatical devotion to Bill Gates. Cardinal Balmer, bring out ... the virtual machine!!

    --
    [Insert pithy quote here]
  9. No need by jdgreen7 · · Score: 4, Funny

    9 times out of 10, Notepad.exe will run on Wine. :-)

  10. You know... by geoff+lane · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...what the answer will be but...

    It's fun to make them say the word "Linux" over and over again :-)

  11. Re:Completely stupid reasoning. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Sorry. I don't understand them, either.

        -- amy

  12. Focused hocus pocus by digitaldc · · Score: 3, Funny

    "Microsoft is 100 percent focused on Windows: We have invested billions of dollars in it."
    Okay so you are focused, but your lenses are thick and your field of vision is small. If you have invested billions of dollars in it, why all the spaghetti code in the background after making several document/spreadsheet changes? Why all the security holes? Why does it include clippy the annoying pest?
    For billions in investment, it better be able to do voice recoginition, layout my spreadsheets automatically, and do my laundry.

    --
    He who knows best knows how little he knows. - Thomas Jefferson
  13. From the Desk of Ballmer... by reclusivemonkey · · Score: 2, Funny

    PFY: "I submitted a "trial balloon" to a popular tech news website, saying we were never going to offer Office on Linux, just to test the water."
    Ballmer: "Were the Linux zealots pissed? Please tell me they were pissed."
    PFY: "Um, no, they didn't seem to care really."
    Ballmer: "Tell me the site wasn't /."
    PFY: "Well, actually..."
    Ballmer: "I am going to F**KING kill that /.!!!"


    ...Chair flies out of window.

  14. I call bullshit by s-orbital · · Score: 2, Funny

    No. MSIE for Mac was definitely a steaming pile of dog crap. I am a professional web designer, and I worked in the Mac Lab in my university. Trust me, when I tell you that.

    --
    Patent: from Latin patere, to be open