|
|
Vista Capable suit given class action status
Author: Tim SmalleyPublished: 25th February 2008
Microsoft is in hot water now that the "Windows Vista Capable" suit has been given class action status by Judge Marsha Pechman. Vista Capable machines could only run the basic version of the OS.
However, District Judge Marsha Pechman whittled down the scope of the suit to focus on whether or not Microsoft's Vista Capable logos created artificial demand for PCs in the run up to Christmas 2006 and inflated prices of the machines that couldn't run the full-featured versions of Windows Vista.
Interestingly, according to an Associated Press report, neither of the two plaintiffs that filed the original lawsuit purchased a machine adorning the Vista Capable logo, but argued that people who bought PCs with the logo were harmed because they could only upgrade to the entry-level version of the OS.
Judge Pechman said that if the prosecutors named someone who did participate in Microsoft's "Express Upgrade" programme, they could also pursue that claim as well.
What would be ironic is if the plaintiffs asked Mike Nash, a vice president in the Windows Product Management group, to join the case, as an email he wrote outlined that he had been burnt by the programme. "I PERSONALLY got burnt, read the email, "Are we seeing this from a lot of customers? ... I now have a $2,100 e-mail machine."
He wasn't the only Microsoft employee to express concerns about the programme too, as Jim Allchin, then co-president of Microsoft's Platforms and Services Division, said, "We really botched this... You guys have to do a better job with our customers."
Microsoft is reportedly reviewing the ruling.
Do you think this is the right decision? Share your thoughts with us in the forums.
Related
Comments (18)
Compare over 250 mobile phones &
52,000 deals!
Compare over 100 broadband & mobile broadband deals online!
- Site Links:
- About
- Email Editor
- Newsletter
- Privacy
- RSS
- Score Guide
- Our Other Websites:
- Auto Express
- Channel Pro
- Computer Buyer
- Computer Shopper
- Den of Geek
All content © bit-tech.net 2000-2009
© Copyright Dennis Publishing Limited licensed by Felden
RelixLinusVista basic is Vista, is it not?
Maybe the 'Vista Capable' branding did inflate purchases in the run up to christmas - but buyer beware. Are retailers (or uninformed consumers for that matter) not as much at 'fault' as Microsoft?
And that $2000 email machine quote cracks me up, moron.
EDIT: Oh yeah... cheesecake. lol.
========
Why do you think it should have been thrown out?
It wasn't whether or not people could run vista,
it was the fact that they could not run the
essential features they were told they would be able to.
Its about the same as that "HD Ready" TV b.s. that
we have where its not true high-def but if you get
$600 worth of parts, you'll have HD then.
The bottom line is that while, yes, a customer needs to be informed,
they were FALSELY informed and led into believing
that their investment would grant them access to all the
new features coming out in Windows Vista.
This should have just got thorwn out of court I feel. :( :( :(
With a class action on the other hand, you just get every Tom, Dick and Harry jumping on the bandwagon to get something for nothing (and that 'something' is generally of pretty questionable value), MS paying through the nose to give every "victim" compensation to the value of a few dollars and the legal firm behind it becoming inconceivably wealthy.
QFT +1
"Hmm. Your ideas are intriguing to me and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter."
I was under the impression that the Vista Capable logo was placed on machines by manufacturers, not Microsoft.
That's a good point, actually. But the specifications are given by Microsoft.
Still, if the customer don't care enough to investigate more into his investment, then too bad for him. Microsoft shouldn't have to pay for peoples ignorance.
Reminds me of a similar case i heard about a while ago:
Some lady were going to buy a cellphone for her daughters birthday. She wanted an MP3 phone, and that's what she got. The phone could play MP3s, but did only have a very small amount of internal memory (but had a micro SD slot). After whining to the newspapers (and not to the shop) that the phone was useless, she got a new phone. The new phone had 40MB storage and no SD card slot... For some reason she wouldn't just accept an additional memory card as a compensation.
I mean, how stupid can you be? If you want something, at least figure out what you need!
If I want a car, i don't expect the salesman to know whether I need a sports car or a pickup....
Smilodon: that lady = pwnd!
Maybe he should have bought a bunch of U bends? :p
and no, that lady = stupid ;)
:)
(I think newer macs are able to run windows. Correct me if I'm wrong here...)
Microsoft is partly to blame here, they could have designed their stickers a bit better. "Vista Basic Capable" instead of just "Vista Capable" would have been much better. Then they could have "Vista Premium Capable" for the more advanced machines.
I'm not saying customers shouldn't invest or check what they are buying, but most consumers trust the retailer to give them what they want and when they too don't really know what they are selling (which is true, believe me!) you can't say consumers are to be at fault here.
This class action lawsuit is a bit silly, but a slap on the wrist would not change Microsoft's attitude towards this either. They have to learn the hard way. And as a multi-billion corporation they will not go under because of this. It has to at least hurt for a second.
We need clear specifications as to what machine can give us the full Vista experience. Microsoft is very vague about this. Come on, what PCs do you think Microsoft used themselves during development?
Well for myself and many many others.... a P4 1.8GHz (without hyper threading, socket 478), 1GB of DDR3200, low profile AGP nvidia 5200 128MB, Vista Enterprise 32bit, running Aero fine, tho an upgrade of pc is long over due!!
Some other lucky peeps have had a more recent machine handed to them, and laptop not far off the above spec, however Aero seems to run ok here.
As for "Vista Basic Capable" well Vista Home Basic does not come with Aero anyways, so no matter what system you had it installed on, you would not get the Aero effect, and if my ancient work pc can handle Vista Enterprise in full glory, then these must be some reallllly poor systems that the retailers are selling to the consumers.
So is it that they are complaining about not having all the fetures due to a basic editon of Vista :s
I think people are complaining about the "experience" of running Vista being less than they were lead to believe. I don't think it is the "does it run Vista or doesn't it?" debate, I think this whole thing revolves around the (over) hyped user experience. After all, if you've got Vista Basic, the Wow never really starts. (In my eyes, even with HP, there isn't really much to say Wow about...)
Andy