How is Vista Basic *not* Vista?
Brian Weeden wrote:
In this case there also happens to be an internal memo from a Microsoft VP
who bought a "Vista Capable" PC instead of a "Premium Ready" one and got
burned. His memo asks the (rhetorical) question, "if we don't understand
our own marketing, what does that say about what we are doing to our
customers?"
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080211-vista-capable-scheme-was-panned-at-microsoft.html
As Arstechnica pointed out, the lawsuit was originally targeted at
Microsoft's efforts to prop up XP sales right up until the release date of
Vista. In other words, to convince people to buy PCs with XP during the
holiday season instead of waiting another couple of months for Vista like
many wanted to (and everyone who wanted Vista should have).
So the judge limiting the lawsuit as explained in the OP article basically
removes this and means that instead of arguing the false advertising and
market manipulation issue, they are forced to only focus on the "is Vista
Basic really Vista and worth XX?". That is a huge win for Microsoft and
instead of having an actual, meaningful lawsuit this will be yet another
long, drawn out legal battle with Microsoft that means nothing for the
consumer that got screwed.
