Microsoft Ordered to Stop Selling 'Word" app.

A judge on Tuesday ordered Microsoft to stop selling Word, one of its premier products, in its current form due to patent infringement.
Judge Leonard Davis of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas issued a permanent injunction that "prohibits Microsoft from selling or importing to the United States any Microsoft Word products that have the capability of opening .XML, .DOCX or DOCM files (XML files) containing custom XML", according to a statement released by attorneys for the plantiff, i4i.
Microsoft did not immediately reply to request for comment but said in a statement that it planned to appeal the verdict.
Toronto-based i4i sued Microsoft in March 2007 alleging that the software giant violated its 1998 patent (No 5,787,449) for a document system that eliminated the need for manually embedded formatting codes.

XML (Extensible Markup Language) is considered a "page description language", with one of its key qualities being that it is readable by people, not just machines. Unlike HTML, which has predefined tags, XML allows developers and users to define their own tags for data, such as price and product.
In May, a federal jury in Tyler, Texas, ruled that the custom XML tagging features of Word 2003 and Word 2007 infringed on i4i's patent and ordered Microsoft to pay $200m (£120m) in the case.
In Tuesday's ruling, Microsoft was also ordered to pay an additional $40m for willful infringement, as well as $37m in pre-judgement interest. The order requires Microsoft to comply with the injunction within 60 days and forbids Microsoft from testing, demonstrating or marketing Word products containing the contested XML feature.

Credit: US judge rules Microsoft must stop selling Word from CNET

Why does my pc lockup?

Why does my PC lock-up?
Your pc locks up for different reasons.

• Hard drive errors
• Incorrect or corrupt settings
• Loose connections
• Lack of RAM memory
• Software conflicts
• Computer viruses
• Bad RAM memory chip(s)

Hard Drive Errors:

Because a hard drive is mechanical, it is prone to wear and errors than IC electronic devices, like your PC's RAM memory chips. Because hard drives have moving parts, it is normal for every hard drive to develop small bad areas that are incapable of reliably storing and retrieving data. It's important to have a backup system for your data, such as a flash drive, remote data backup, or another hard drive.

Incorrect or Currupt settings:

Incorrect CMOS or BIOS settings will stop the hardware and software from functioning properly. Also currupt software data will have an effect on your hardware and lock-up the pc. Run scandisk, disk cleaners and defragment the hard drive every few months. I use "Fix-It Utilities" on my computers to keep them in top shape.

Loose Connections:

Bad or loose connections and plugs, bad or frayed wiring and cables, can cause problems with arcing and lockup the pc.

Lack of Memory:

This is such a big subject, I can only touch on. There are literally books written on the subject. Along with a hard drive, which provides long-term storage of software and data when your PC is turned off, every PC has RAM (short-term electronic chip memory) installed in it, to hold the software and data that you are using at any particular time. When you start a software program, it loads from the hard drive into RAM memory, where the PC's CPU (main brain) can access it. The moment you turn on your PC, memory is being accessed and loaded into the software. The Windows splash screen you see when you turn on the PC is memory and software loading. As the Windows Desktop (icons and background) appears, some other software applications (anti-virus software, scanner software, and others) may start automatically, with each one using some RAM memory. You can usually see tiny icons for those applications in the System Tray, next to the Windows clock in the bottom-right corner of the screen. In addition, each software application that you run (word processor, email, etc.) takes up even more RAM memory. If your PC has only a small amount of RAM memory, and you try to open a large sound file, a digitized image, or anything else that takes up a lot of memory, it is possible to run out of memory, and when Windows runs out of memory, it locks-up. How can you tell if your lock-ups are caused by running out of memory or not? If your Windows XP PC has 256MB or less of RAM memory, then Windows is using most of your PCs memory before you even start running your word processor or other application, so pretty much anything that you run could take up enough additional RAM memory to make your PC lock-up. If you run 3 or more applications at the same time, or if you have many tiny icons in the System Tray next to the Windows clock, your PC should probably have at least 512MB or more of RAM memory. If you're running memory intensive applications like image editing software, your PC should probably have 1 GB or more of RAM memory. If you run apps like Adobe, email software, Web-creation software (like FrontPage) and graphics software, all at the same time, then your PC probably needs at least 1.5GB to 2GB of memory. What can you do to trim your PC's need for RAM? If you know what you're doing, you can delete the icons of unnecessary programs from the Start/Programs/StartUp folder in order to prevent them from automatically starting up each time you turn on your PC. Because you're only deleting each program's shortcut icon, the programs themselves will still be on your PC's hard drive, and they should still show up in the Start/Programs, so you'll still be able to start them manually if you ever need them. If you don't really know what you're doing, you'll be better off leaving all of the icons in the StartUp folder, rather than taking a chance of deleting something important.

Software Conflicts:

While most commercial software is written in such a way that it gets along with other software, some poorly-written software "doesn't play well with others." Software conflict problems sometimes occur randomly, and are extremely difficult to diagnose, unless the lock-up problem appears right after you install a new piece of software, and it disappears as soon as you uninstall that piece of software. To give yourself a fighting chance to figure out software conflicts, never install more than one piece of software at a time on your properly-functioning PC. Each time you install a piece of software, use the PC for several days afterward, without installing anything else, to make sure that the new software doesn't cause any problems. That way, if a problem starts a few days after you install something, you can uninstall it and see if the problem goes away. If your PC has hundreds of little programs that you downloaded for free from all over the Internet, and you have no idea which one might be causing your PC to lock-up, try keeping a record of what you were doing each time your PC locks up.

Viruses, Malware, Spyware, and Trojans:

These nasty creatures can rob you, lockup your PC, and steal from you. ALWAYS have at least one anti-virus program on your PC running at All times! Some people run many of these programs on there PC to protect them. Hundreds of new computer viruses are created each year. Computer viruses can do all kinds of damage. They can email your AOL username and password to someone in another country. They can destroy the operating system (Windows XP, Vista), the software applications (Word, Excel, Outlook), and the data files (taxes, banking) on your PC. They can email themselves to everyone in your email address book, making it look as though the email message is from you. They can also corrupt your software or your data files, causing them to lock-up your PC. The best way to protect your PC from computer viruses is to install professional-quality antivirus software, and to update that software at least once a week, usually by connecting to the Internet and using the antivirus software's automatic update process.

Bad RAM Memory:

RAM memory is extremely stable and rarely ever goes bad. However, it can be damaged by static electricity or power surge. If any part of your PC's RAM memory has gone bad, then every time your PC tries to read or write data to that part of the memory, the data comes back corrupted, and that can cause your PC to lock-up. In fact, if your PC has bad memory and you're running a lot of memory-intensive applications at the same time, the PC could easily fool you into thinking that the lock-up was caused by running out of memory or by a software conflict. If you'd like to test your PC's RAM, you can download and run software like DocMemory RAM Diagnostic Software which may or may not still be free by the time you read this, but you can find a link on the internet. Like other RAM testing software, it works by repeatedly writing and reading data to the RAM, to make sure that every bit and byte reads correctly, start memory testing software and leave it running overnight, then check it in the morning to see if your computer's RAM has passed every test or not.

This pretty much PC Lockups in a nutshell. If you have any questions or concerns, please email me at 'support@acumenpctech.com'