p2pnet - rss feed: Microsoft slashes boxed Vista prices
p2pnet news | Products:- Did Bill and the Boyz knowingly scam people by letting PC makers stick “Windows Vista Capable” on PCs when they knew perfectly well the computers could run only the most bare-bones version?
That’s the subject of a current class action and in the meanwhile, the company now tacitly admits it overcharged people by saying it plans to massively slash the price of versions which go directly to consumers by 20% to 48%.
Vista included on PCs (whether buyers asked for it or not) won’t be affected, says Associated Press.
The reductions will coincide with the late March release of Vista Service Pack 1 and will apply to the Home Premium and Ultimate versions of Vista in both their full editions and editions which upgrade an, “older or more basic operating system,” says the story.
” A Microsoft Corp. executive last year said the software company made a mistake by lowering the minimum technical requirements needed to run Windows Vista, a decision he said was made to help Intel Corp. meet its quarterly earnings, according to internal emails disclosed this week,” says the Wall Street Journal.
“The emails provide a glimpse into how Microsoft executives and hardware partners grappled with technical glitches and other problems as they prepared the long-awaited Windows Vista software for market. The emails were released as part of a federal class-action suit alleging that Microsoft’s marketing program for Windows Vista misled consumers.”
The lawsuit was expanded by a Seattle District Court federal judge to “potentially include all consumers who purchased a Windows XP PC advertised as Vista Capable’,” says InformationWeek.
Dianne Kelley and Kenneth Hansen said they were the victims of “bait and switch” sales tactics by Microsoft, alleging the company used deceptive marketing tactics to promote Windows Vista,
AP has Microsoft spokesman Brad Brooks saying the company has since tested lower prices and found “product was moving much, much faster”.
Brooks said he, “expects so many customers to buy Vista at the new prices that the price cuts will increase Microsoft’s revenue, not subtract from it,” it states.
Oh. That’s OK, then.
Also See:
knowingly scam people - Microsoft ‘misled’ Vista Capable buyers: lawsuit, February 11, 2008
Associated Press - Microsoft Cuts Price for Boxed Vista, February 29, 2008
Wall Street Journal - Microsoft Foresaw Vista Problems, February 28, 2008
InformationWeek - Judge Grants ‘Vista Capable’ Lawsuit Class Action Status, February 25, 2008
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February 29th, 2008 at 6:30 am
I’m glad that I run Linux and avoid all these vista problems. More people should try emancipating themselves from the m$ - windows axis of evil.
February 29th, 2008 at 7:14 am
A lot of people are afraid that linux will be so alien that they won’t be able to use it. My dad, for example, still insists that he got sick of text based OSes in the 80s and can’t live without his GUI. I recently installed cygnus on his machine, so I hope he changes his tune sooner than later…
February 29th, 2008 at 8:28 am
Anything but Speechless: 100 Things People Are Really Saying About Windows Vista
http://www.microsplot.com/news/2007/12/anything_speechless_100_things_people_are_really_saying_about_windows_vista
People are upgrading from Vista to XP, or from Vista to Linux.
February 29th, 2008 at 10:14 am
Ya right with Vista! What a big piece of Microslosh!
I got a Thoshiba Sattellite with duo-core 64 AMD Processor, 2 GHZ, 2GB RAM and a 160gb HD with Vista PRemium home edition and the dam shit is crawling crawling and crawling! Without mentioning all the bugs some of them really really enoying. The worst bug is the screen blacking out when the thingy try to go into sleep mode. Apparently a bug in the video driver DRM! I got really tired of this so I decided to downgrade back to XP. When I asked Microsoft for that they told me that I don’t qualify for it. So I got a version of XP corporate and installed it. The thing run great at lighting speed save of course for all the enoying stupid microsoft idea enoying pop-up message and so forth. Big problem: I could not find the right driver for the graphic board, the sound card, the Ethernet card, the wifi card. The default driver for the graphic card is working but not to good on this system. I am now trying to install a version of LInux and I hope I can find the right drivers for this. If it fail I will reinstall Vista and return this dam piece of crap!
Stay far far far away from a Vista system! A Vista system is likely to be Vista specific and you will might not have any driver to run anything else.
Thank you microcrap!
February 29th, 2008 at 10:26 am
I am running Vista right now and absolutely hate it. The problems are plentiful and I have been trying to switch to Linux for many months now but that is problematic also. I have tried loading 16 of the various live CD’s that are available and only 2 would even boot up to a start screen. Those 2 did not support the sound card or wireless card or even the mousetracker in one version.
I really do want to switch to Linux but will have to wait until it is somewhat ready for primetime. It definitely is not ready for widespread adoption at the moment. MAYBE NEXT YEAR! At least that’s what all the columnists have been saying for the past decade. MAYBE NEXT YEAR!
February 29th, 2008 at 2:05 pm
Try Unbuktu linux bootable CD to test the machine and see if the drivers are there. The OS will run from the CD without messing up your HD. DON’t INSTALL IT! JUST RUN IT FOR A TEST! It worked very well on my AMD 64 duo self builded machine with at mach speed mother board. Of course it is significantly slower than running it from the HD althoug it is already surprising fast. It will let you test the hardware/ drivers combination already available.
Alternatively you can get a version of Window 2000. (If you can not find it download it for BT) It is a great OS still up to date still running every thing you really need, better than apple OS X but not as secure as Linux though. (ADD a fire wall though! I like Tiny Personal fire wall)
February 29th, 2008 at 5:05 pm
What kind of bleating idiocy is that “Can’t live without his GUI?”
Every Linux distro worth a damn has included either KDE or GNOME (or both) — and/or a lot of other GUI’s for at least five years.
There is absolutely NO reason (for example that your typical PC user couldn’t get Ubuntu or Mepis up and running with
the right sort of help. It’s not a matter of your Dad needing to “change his tune” — it’s a matter of YOU needing to not browbeat him about GUI usage. The command shell is a versatile tool, but it’s just that, a TOOL. GUIs are NOT the work of Satan (aka Microsoft), they were invented by Xerox parc, and have been recognized as a great advance in interface design for decades. I realize that there are some folks who love cryptic-for-the-sake-of-obscurity, but there are also people who actually use computers to DO things.
February 29th, 2008 at 11:16 pm
“A lot of people are afraid that linux will be so alien that they won’t be able to use it.”
I’m afraid that Linux won’t run any of the software that I actually want to use a computer for, which includes games. I’d consider switching to Linux if I could walk into a local store and browse through the same selection of Linux compatible commercial software as I currently can with Windows.