Microsoft halts online sales of MS Office to comply with court order

On Monday, Microsoft yanked almost every version of Office from its online store in order to comply with a court order. In August the company lost a patent infringement lawsuit brought against it by Canadian software company i4i Inc and was ordered to stop selling the popular office suite until the custom XML that constituted a violation of i4i’s patent and pay them almost $300 million in damages.

align=”right”"We’ve taken steps to comply with the court’s ruling and we’re introducing the revised software into the U.S. market,” said Michael Croan, a senior marketing manager, in an e-mail. He also downplayed the move. “This process will be imperceptible to the vast majority of customers, who will find both trial and purchase options readily available,” he added.

The only version of MS Office left for sale is Office Ultimate 2007, which sells for $670, meaning it may very well cost more than some of the computers that it gets installed on. Microsoft says updated versions of the other Office products with the offending code removed will soon be returned to their store. Meanwhile Office 2007 and Office 2008 for Mac are still available in retail stores, and the beta of Office 2010 is available for download. Microsoft has also made updates available for MS Office 2003 and 2007 but says they only need to be installed if you have been previously contacted by them and told you need to do so.

I use Office 2003 and haven’t been contacted by Microsoft, so I guess I’m in the clear. Have you been contacted and told you need to install the updates?

Read [PCWorld]