April 4, 2007 10:15 AM PDT
Microsoft sued over Vista branding
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A lawsuit, filed in Seattle, alleges that the company advertised systems as "Vista capable," when in fact the systems were not able to run Vista properly. The suit alleges that the marketing around Vista was designed to deliberately mislead potential customers.
The outcome hangs on the precise definition of the circumstances under which a machine is "Vista capable."
Microsoft has allowed PC vendors to put stickers on their systems saying that they are "Vista ready," when the system could run only Vista Home Basic, which does not allow many of the core features of Vista to run. The suit maintains that it was unreasonable of Microsoft to assume that every person to whom it was marketing Vista could understand the system requirements.
PCs need at least 512MB of RAM, a processor capable of operating at 800MHz or faster and a graphics processor that is DirectX 9-capable to be classified as "Vista capable." However, the suit alleges that it was not clear from Microsoft's advertising and marketing around Vista that while a system may be advertised as "capable," it may be incapable of running many of the advertised features of Vista, such as the Aero desktop.
According to the legal action, which was filed as a class action suit on Thursday, "consumers were falsely led to believe they would be upgraded to a dramatically new operating system bearing the key features marketed by Microsoft." In particular, the court action highlights Microsoft's "Express Upgrade" plan, which upgraded users from Windows XP to Vista Basic. This was an upgrade to Vista "in name only," the suit alleged, and "not the functionality."
Microsoft said it had made extensive efforts to inform buyers about the hardware resources needed to run Vista.
"We conducted a broad effort to educate computer manufacturers, retailers and consumers about the hardware requirements to run different versions of Windows Vista," the company said in a statement. "This well-documented effort occurred as part of the Windows Vista Capable program. We look forward to presenting this information to the court and addressing all other issues raised in this lawsuit."
Details of the lawsuit were reported Tuesday by The Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
Colin Barker of ZDNet UK reported from London.
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This is just another example of people trying to extort money because they are too stuipid or cheap to buy a higher-end system.
Additionally you cannot sue Microsoft because they are not the ones marketing computers. This is just more cannon fodder for the Microsoft Legal team. You wonder why these operating systems are so expensive... now you know.
Its like all those "Flex-Fuel" cars that are being sold... E85 (85% ethanol, 15% gasoline mix) compatable, yet across the nation there are LESS THAN ONE THOUSAND places to fill them, of nearly 200,000 stations. Sue all the car makers next why don't you?
The "full functionality" requires a good deal of new technology. Glass can't be shown the way it is without shader model 2.0, so you have to have it unless you want an entire window semi-transparent. It requires that much video ram to run properly. End of story,
I hope the law suit backfires on the suer. Microsoft did right. Unless something is missing from the story.
action, unless failing to do your homework or read the fine print
somehow qualifies me for some group identity which can't be
discriminated against.
Not so! Stupidity crosses all ethnic & religious boundaries.
Whatever you may think of Microsoft's products, services or
advertising, you cannot expect them to protect consumers from
their own poor decisions.
The only way I learned of Vista's problems is by reading the CNET Articles. Though I have no plans to "upgrade" any time soon. There is not enough new Technology to warrant it. Also just to get a real upgrade you have to go to the "Super Duper" version of Vista, and spend double the money you really need to. IT'S TIME WE ALL UPGRADE TO LINUX!!!!!!!!
Did they even bother to use the Vista Upgrade advisor before doing this. Oh yeah, they do also have a website to tell you about all of the different versions of Vista and the features that they will allow.
This lawsuit comes as a result of not making use of information and tools made available before making a big decison. And how long were these available BEFORE Vista came out? These were also available during the beta testing too.
There was an "upgrade advisor" out long before there was Vista's launch, and Microsoft has notoriously understated its system requirements, so... ***?
Before the MSFT fanbois start yammering, notice how the minimim requirements of most makers --as stated-- are just enough to run the OS, not the OS + apps.
IMHO, if anybody deserves to get put in the docket, it's likely the schmucks at (insert big-box retailer here), for glossing over the details more often than not, and the OEM's for slapping "Vista Ready" and "Vista Capable" stickers all over their stock in an attempt to push boxes out the door during Christmas season.
I mean, cripes... as an example: even the latest Linux kernel versions can run itself and perhaps a few apps on an old 486 DX-66 w/ 24MB of RAM, but I certainly wouldn't claim that it was actually useful for Joe Sixpack at those h/w specs, any more than I would recommend OSX 10.4 for a G4/500 w/ 64MB of RAM (even though IIRC those are roughly the min. req's for OSX).
/P
Linux & unix aren't really viable commercial alternatives to Windows or Mac for the average computer user. I only reboot my 4 different XP SP2 computers when i do (un)installs or when they've been up for many days & just feel like rebooting. So my experience with XP is good- that doesn't make me a fool.
Pentium II computer with "Made for Windows 95" sticker on the front: $75
Windows Vista Ultimate purchased off of Ebay: $999 with FREE shipping!
The look on your face when the sh*t doesn't work: PRICELESS!
- Buyer beware - MS claims are always ?
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by intrepi
April 5, 2007 10:29 AM PDT
- I'm amazed that anyone believes all the hype from MS with respect to it's software. Anyone who buys any software from anyone needs to start reading the terms of the license and conditions. I read it first and clearly determined I couldn't agree to them so I never bought it. If you go out and buy a car without taking the time to read the finance or terms of conditions with respect to warranty, you really need a wake up call. Does anyone really do that ? If you buy it, install it then you had to agree to the terms of the license, so what do you want from me, sympathy ? Time to get a reality check as MS is in the game for one reason to make as much money as they can, any way they can, which includes protecting it's products in the best way it can including a major time and money inconvenience to anyone buying it. MS is NOT responsible for anything nor does it guarantee nor imply any warranty or guarantees in any way. Now here is some food for thought, Vista is the most secure Windows OS ever which implies it's secure, right ? Well, why is MS flogging Onecare with Defender ? They could have made it part of Vista ...No ? No way, money first and even then there are no guaratees or warranties. Are you getting this ? The public just amazes me as to how naive and wail after they've been exploited and all because they don't want to read the terms of the license.
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