Judge greenlights lawsuit against Microsoft
By Kelly Fiveash â?? More by this author
25 Feb 2008 11:04
Sticky issue of deceptive 'Vista Capable' labels
A US judge has given the go-ahead for consumers to file a class action
lawsuit against Microsoft for providing misleading information about
Windows XP computers being able to run Vista.
Redmondâ??s â??Windows Vista Capableâ?? labels first appeared on computers in
April 2006, even though the firmâ??s latest operating system didnâ??t get a
general release until January last year.
According to Associated Press the class action lawsuit, which was
certified by US district judge Marsha Pechman last Friday, will
specifically look at whether Microsoftâ??s labels generated artificial
demand for computers in the 2006 run-up to Christmas.
It will also examine if prices had been overstated for computers that
couldnâ??t be upgraded to the full-featured Premium version of Vista,
which includes the Aero user interface.
The two people who originally filed the lawsuit didnâ??t take advantage of
a program devised by Microsoft to advise customers on compatibility
pre-launch. Despite that, both claimed that anyone who bought â??Vista
Capableâ?? machines before January 2007, had been deceived because the
majority of users could only run the stripped-down Basic version of
Vista, which lacks the media centre, and Aero interface with flip 3D and
thumbnails.
In May 2006 Microsoft issued an advisor tool that told Windows users
whether their existing computer was able to be upgraded to Vista.
Redmond said at the time that customers could run a more basic GUI of
the OS if they had an 800MHz CPU, 512MB of memory and any DirectX
9-capable graphics card. Together those specifications were enough for
Microsoft to define a PC as being â??Vista Capableâ??.
The software giant later described its efforts to prepare customers for
its Vista onslaught as â??a very broad and unprecedented effortâ?? to help
PC vendors, retailers and customers â??understand the hardware
requirements to run the various flavours of the Windows Vista operating
systemâ??.
Microsoft said it is reviewing the ruling, according to the AP. ®