Vista class action, end of road? (operating system, work, Microsoft, app)

[Brian.Pearson]

...The long-running suit alleges that Microsoft allowed computer manufacturers to label machines as “Vista capable,” thereby leading consumers to believe that the computers were capable of operating any version of the Microsoft operating system. In fact, according to the suit, the machines were only compatible with Vista Basic, which lacks a number of features included in higher-priced versions...

[Asheville Native]

meeh, they put 120 MPH or higher on speedometers on many vehicles that struggle to bust 75 MPH, 80 with a tailwind.

[Spookmeister]

Silly suit. Lawyers on both sides will get rich though. The American way!!

[NHDave]

Originally Posted by Asheville Native

meeh, they put 120 MPH or higher on speedometers on many vehicles that struggle to bust 75 MPH, 80 with a tailwind.

LOL, interesting analogy, why don't people sue because of that I wonder

[mensaguy]

My prediction: The lawyers will win.

[Naptowner]

If you read the article, you'd see the lawyers for the class will not win - they're pretty much out of luck. Plaintiff's lawyers in class actions usually work on a contingency - meaning they only get paid if they recover. What's happened here is that the judge has denied class certification. What this means is that each plaintiff has to sue individually. Because the damages are so low for each plaintiff, the cost of filing suit and taking it to trial is much, much greater than the potential recovery. A class action allows numerous plaintiffs, whose individual damages are not very high, to band together in a single lawsuit. It's a good way of handling lawsuits in some cases.

In this case, the class couldn't prove their purchase of computers was based on Vista marketing, or that they were damaged by their inability to run the best version of Vista with the best graphic performance. Although I'm not familiar with the facts of this case, I suspect the defense argued that the plaintiffs would have had to pay significantly more for a computer that was capable of handling the best Vista version. Using the speedometer analogy, it's like claiming you thought your Chevette could do 120 because that's what the speedometer said, but even if you knew it topped out at 60, you still would have bought it because you would have had to pay many times as much for a car capable of 120.

[texdav]

I agree silly suit. Probasly takenup by some trial lawyers that were low on cases and thought MS might just settle and give them some cash.

[Naptowner]

Yeah, they valued it at $8 billion not too long ago. I'm an attorney myself and can't stand to see stuff like that.