Vista Capable sticker lawsuit gets class-action status
By Donald Melanson 
posted February 27th 2008 11:49AM
posted February 27th 2008 11:49AM
It looks like that little lawsuit over "Vista Capable" stickers on PCs could now be about to get quite a bit bigger, as a federal judge has now bestowed class-action status on the suit, which accuses Microsoft of misleading marketing. More specifically, as the AP reports, the suit alleges that the "Vista Capable" stickers slapped on PCs during the 2006 holiday season created an "artificial demand" for the computers, and "inflated prices for computers that couldn't be upgraded to the full-featured version of Vista." As we've seen, those stickers even took in at least one higher-up at Microsoft itself, who has made his thoughts on the program quite well known. While things are still obviously in the early stages, the law firm that filed the suit is now looking for others that feel they've been burned by the stickers, and ComputerWorld has the details on you can get involved at the link below.[Via ComputerWorld]
Now to be fair, NO version of Windows has ever delivered functional sleep and hibernate functions. I had both working on one of my computers once... never again.
http://blip.tv/file/340692/
I have a Dell Inspiron 9400 that i bought in sept of 06 and has that vista capatable sticker...I downloading Microsoft software to see if it would actually be compatible and it's not....I would have no sound and the sound control panel on the front would not work.
....Maybe I should sue too ;) although I've tried Vista and hate it.
This is a joke. This is just like that old lady who bought coffee from McDonalds and burnt herself. It did say caution hot, but she sued and won anyways.
Labels aren't meant to be followed, for reasons stated above.
Beside that, any person with half a brain would know Microsoft released benchmark tests that guaged the competency of the pc in question, and told you what you needed to upgrade to meet the vista requirements, and stated what version of vista you were able to run.
If anyone here should be sued, it's those greasy pimply faced know-nothing dorks at Best Buy, Future Shop, and other incompetent companies that blatantly lie to the customers because they don't know the proper answer, and to inflate their sales and paychecks.
Idiots.. Eveyone in that class action suit is an idiot. Including Microsoft!
wohoo.. :)
Wow..I see alot of people going "It their own fault..they are idiots for not doing their research", its a real shame they don't head their own words. This sticker is on my 1505 dell laptop.. a year old, it CAN run vista premium and I pretty much knew that a year ago.. because vista was well into beta and alot of info was known about it. However, 2 years ago or older.. things were abit different. We didn't know we would have multiple versions of the OS, we didn't have an official minimum spec, we didn't know how powerful of a gpu was needed for vista. No one did. So what "research" did you think these people were going to do?
Saddly as someone pointed out though... class action suit = lawyers get paid.. the victims get squat.
i have that sticker on my laptop and i could not put any of the vista on!!!!!!!!!
I think Microsoft's only mistake was they forgot to put a * at the end. I mean how can they forget to put the universal sign for "Read the fine print, stupid!" at the end.
I totally agree with you man. * just like in programming can do a lot. Unbelievable that a missing "*" is causing them headache...interesting stuff.
Hmm. Quite a messy issue.
Someone else made the analogy that a car could be capable of going 100 mph, but that it might not be a good idea. This may be true, but nobody at your local [insert name of your idea of a crappy car company here] dealership goes about slapping "Designed for 50 MPH, 100 MPH Capable!" Stickers on last year's model of car, do they?
Of course not. While I believe the people burned by this Vista sicker issue should have been more informed, salespeople, especially at big box retailers like Best Buy and CompUSA typically have one motive: making sales. They could care less if a person is going to have a poor computing experience down the road when they try to load Windows Vista Home Premium instead of Windows Vista Home Basic.
So whose idea was it to put the stickers on the boxes? Maybe that's already been determined, but I would be willing to bet that manufacturers (HP, Sony, Dell, Lenovo, etc) and Microsoft agreed to placing the stickers on the computers.
Those companies should be accountable for their advertising methods. I wouldn't go as far to say it was "false" advertisement, but it was VERY misleading to uninformed customers in a situation in which they had no other knowledge about what "Vista Capable" meant.
hey Nick, either enable your spell check or learn how to spell guarantee
Um, don't bite me for asking but what exactly are the minimum requirements for running the full version of Vista anyway? This is seriously the first time any news about Vista has hit my radar and now I'm interested. I've been a mac kid since my dad got me an Apple II in '89, so I'm a little out of the loop on Windows systems, hence the request to please be gentle.
This lawsuit is like when the lady sued McDonalds for dropping hot coffee all over herself. Yes, the coffee was hotter than whatever that state regulation allowed, shame on McDonalds. However, the lady dropped the coffee on herself knowing coffee is hot even at the regulation temp. Nobody made her go through the drive-through, and nobody threw the coffee on her.
Same thing, so Microsoft said in 2006,prior to Vista launch or whatever that the computers were capable to run Vista, not specifying a version or much of anything other than the pc was capable. Isn't it the consumers responsibility to know what they are buying? I have yet to go into any computer sales place that has a lack of people asking, "Can I Help You?".
I think this has gone way to far. Vista CAPABLE keyword here capable, that doesn't mean it's going to run the best version of vista there is and if you think it does it's your own damn fault. This sticker only means vista basic, why would it mean anything more? I'll admit that microsoft screws up... well alot, but this time I don't see them doing anything wrong.
Ok, I'm confused. I thought the "Certified for Vista" logo meant a good vista experience, meaning you can run any version of Vista on it, and that "Vista Capable" simply meant that you can install Vista on it (as in it meets hardware requirements, but not guarantee that it will work perfectly since the software and drivers on the machine are made for XP).
Personally I'd never buy a machine that is shipped with XP in the hopes of upgrading to Vista. I've seen where 1 device can really screw you because it doesn't have Vista drivers. So, what's the big deal with this? It's vague, I give you that but if you look at 2 machines and one says Certified for Vista and then another says Designed for XP: Vista Capable, common sense should kick in.
I'm one that got stung, sort of. My husband paid just over $1K to surprise me with a laptop with all the bells and whistles I wanted. Vista was delayed, I got all the papers to upgrade when it was released. No problem. Got the upgrade, have not loaded it because we have a desktop, also Vista capable, on which the free upgrade expired. We bought a copy of the upgrade for $150 to replace the promised FREE one and now our desktop is practically non-functional... CD drive no longer is recognized, half the software thinks it isn't registered any more and I, for one, am out for everything I can get back. If I had known all the problems we would have faced (we've sent both units back to the manufacturer twice), I'd have bought a Mac
It does depend a bit on the hardware you use, how well the Windows experience works.
Some computer makers posts up the bare minimums to support Vista, but in reality, these bare minimums are cruddy specs in the first place, and Vista won't run well on them. If it's a cheap computer, don't expect quality.
I got a Sony Vaio that's about 4-5 years old, and Vista runs fine on it. It all depends if you're using crap hardware, or quality hardware.
Thanks, Michael. We had a Vaio, too, but it ran Windows Me. That's what we replaced with HPs. I have a Pavilion desktop and a Presario notebook. I should have known, I guess, I used to work for HP and their quality was always above reproach. Compaq was always a warhorse but never innovative. When they merged, everything went down the toilet.
I believe the term culpable is what Microsoft is, not copable or capable.
Business Dictionary: Culpable
Deserving of moral blame or punishment; at fault. One is culpable when one has acted with indifference to consequences and to the rights of others.
I say that MS should pay everyone that bought VISTA the retail cost plus pain and suffering for the reason of it being the biggest POS OS ever released. The only feature of VISTA that is worth anything is DX10. They should sell it separately with a patch for XP to use it.
As far as consumers buying a bare bones PC and expecting it to run VISTA Ultimate based on a sticker that says capable, instead of asking questions and doing some research; take it as a lesson learned. Stop buying old bargain basement computers/technology and expecting to keep up with the neighbors.
I think consumers that feel misled or cheated should be eligible for a refund of the OS cost or an exchange for the VISTA Basic OS that their computer is "capable" of running. Class action Lawsuit... A BIG FAT NO.
As much as I love to see Corporate Giants take a stiff one from time to time. All it means is the cost is redirected to the customer as even higher prices for an extremely overpriced product already.
I've got that little sticker saying Vista capable. It did not say Basic or ultimate so I should have a choice on what Vista I put on my mchaine. I would be happy if I just get a refund on my OS or uSoft send me a coupon for free Vista Business upgrade.
How do one put their name on the lawsuit.
I don't think I was ignorant..I bought an HP Laptop before..ran Windows XP, never had any major issues. I bought my new laptop last year..I didn't really want Vista but that is what came on the laptop. I new their might be some Issues..waiting on some software I like to become compatible. I have had so many problems..mainly with my NVIDIA drivers. I feel ripped off. Oh and I just got my laptop back, the BIOS had to be replaced. I have had to restore to factory settings way too many times.