Microsoft could face $8.5 billion in damages for "Vista Capable" case

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Microsoft could face $8.5 billion in damages for "Vista Capable" case

travelin cat

9:41 pm on Jan 23, 2009 (gmt 0)

A University of Washington economist, and an expert witness for the plaintiffs has calculated that it would cost anywhere from $3.92 billion to $8.52 billion to upgrade all of the PCs that were sold as Vista Capable so that they would be able to run the premium versions of Windows Vista.

Read the whole story here. [tgdaily.com]

mack

1:29 am on Jan 27, 2009 (gmt 0)

it's a strange case because the buck stops with Microsoft as opposed tothe PC manufacturer. In an ideal world they would be responsible for designing and testing their hardware... but since when has this been an ideal world.

Mack.

kaled

11:01 am on Jan 27, 2009 (gmt 0)

I can't see MS loosing this one.

1) The machines in question were indeed Vista Capable - they just can't run aero (that's a single superfluous feature).
2) MS merely permitted manufacturers to make this claim, it was up to the manufacturers to decide to do so or not.
3) In UK law, sale contracts are between the buyer and the store - therefore if goods are incorrectly described, etc. the store is liable. I'm guessing, but I'd imagine that something similar operates in the US.

Kaled.