The Internet is a wonderful place to spend some time, but it has it’s bad points. Firstly there’s the criminal element – hackers, virus writers, spy and malware, and people making kind offers to deposit Nigerian fortunes in your bank account. And then there’s the problem of whether the truth is out there, and how do you work out what’s true and what’s not… for example, is Lady GaGa really a hermaphrodite as was speculated this week? My guess is ‘no’, as anyone wanting to hide male dangly bits would wear loose-fitting trousers, not the stuff she wears.

Some content is honest in it’s lack of truth. One of my feeds is NewsBiscuit.com and I know that when I see headlines such as Court awards viewer of new Will Ferrell film 101 minutes of his life back it’s not really true, even though the film probably does really suck. However I doubt if NewsBiscuit will ever improve on BBspot’s spoof classic story Atheist Still Unconvinced After Meeting with God or The Onion’s amazing video about the MacBook Wheel.

So, what’s this go to do with Microsoft Word? Yesterday when my news feed displayed a story entitled Microsoft Banned from Selling Word in the US I assumed it was spoof news… but it wasn’t. It’s true that a Texas judge has ruled that Microsoft cannot sell Word in the United States after a Canadian company, i4i, won an XML patent infringement case. The story was then picked up by a number of other sources such as The Register and Microsoft’s unofficial UK public relations partner the BBC.

Of course, Microsoft won’t actually stop selling Word in the US, or anywhere else…  if Microsoft’s appeal is lost the whole affair will then be settled with a nice fat cheque and i4i will go back to their business of selling XML-based products for Microsoft Word.

It’s also worth noting, as viewers of Mock The Week know all too well, that Frankie Boyle makes a mention of Lady GaGa’s balls every week… so maybe the truth is out there.