If all of this lawsuit turns out to be some million/billion dollar case and the public wins. Did they really win? The effect of a company with a huge loss is only going to drive your Hardware and OS prices way up so in effect the rest of the economy will be paying for these fools using "word play" to cover the cost of the lawsuit. Its like "Bee movie" you get what you pay for you spend 500 bux on a pc you for sure didnt get everything you wanted and probably didn't get everything you need. people who have bought a PC befor this should realize that by now. I think people should be required to have a licence to own and operate a Computer statning that they are compitent with it. Further more the cost of the upgrade to run your Areo package is not much at all. $50 gfx card will get it done! cost of laywer 50,000 or 30%. this is just plain stuipd and a mis-use of the publics time and money. The comptuers apparently run vista just fine. Optional features are not requried to run vista plain and simple.

to me
vista capable/compatible = will run basic vista thats why vista Basic exists. They needed to check the box on the retail package of the system requirements befor assuming that version will work with your hardware.

BEST EXAMPLE i can think of:
Its like buying a car that has a speedometer that goes up to 140mph and if you tried to go that fast you only get 120mph. Are you going to sue the company b/c the car wont do 140mph? No you wont b/c if you are car savy you will realize if you wanted to go that 140mph you will not go with the 4cyl and go with the high horsepower v8. Same concept applys with computers

sonyman your example is different. they were telling consumers as well as displays and stickers being prominently shown, that these pc's and laptos could handle the features of vista when it couldn't. if the car dealer told you that it most defenitely could go to 140mph and it maxed at 120 than it would be misleading just like MS and these stores mislead consumers.

lol i know its an example but why would you want a car that can go that fast? the legal limit is like 75.

The 'vista capable' ad program was mostly pre-vista release as I recall. It would take a very naive person to look at early images and specs as the final reality of any product!

Will Vista run on these machines? Of course it will! Will it run well, that's a fair question but if it does not a memory upgrade and an added video adapter will make it work just fine.

Lawyers are out to make a buck without a good reason, there is nothing to see here.

its just the principle of the thing. the vista capable pc can run office apps and just not areo. if you were shopping for a car and you didnt have a clue about cars and you see one that had a really high speedometer, you would assume the car could infact do that speed. That speed your right will probably be never used but the fact that it is listed there and the car can NOT perform to the projected meter limit you may feel something is wrong.

I am trying to figure out a way to say just b/c there is a vista capable sticker on it dosnt mean you will beable to do everything with vista. All that sticker really means is that there are drivers avalible and it will install. Running software is then left up to the hardware in terms of performance. dont buy the moped and expect it to toe a car just b/c it has a motor and wheels just like a truck. comparison?

I still like the $50 gfx card solution and be done.

Microsoft give everyone back their money that bought Vista, then take every copy of it to a landfill and inter them next to the other flop Atari's E.T. Adventure, and pretend that it never happened and that it was all just a bad dream and will go away.

sonyman
it is a fair opinion to further foster the negativity of money hungry lawyers. the cheap gfx card may solve the OS problems, but neither are the point.
the true issue with this lawsuit is business practices. large corporations, small corparations, mom&pop stores alike, all must be responsible with how they conduct their business.
the "buyer beware" attitude died a long time ago.
in the case of the vista lawsuit, microsoft praying on the general ignorance of the computer buying public, misrepresented the promoted and expected, user experience that the vista OS would provide.
i can see your point had the consumer had the opportunity to "test drive" the computer with the desired vista version prior to purchase.
since that was not the case, it would be the responsibility of Microsoft and the computer manufacturer's to impress upon the public the limitations or impact the different vista versions wouldl have.
in other words, if consumers knew that vista would cause slower startup times, slower downloads, uploads and streaming...how many people would have purchased the vista calpable machines?
i know i type too much...should hear me talk...worse. but my final point is the one that cannot be overlooked. the whole fiasco came about for one reason and one reason only...the computer manufacturer's did not want to lose the holiday selling season because microsoft could not release vista in time.

Actually IMO computer manufacturers did want Vista to come out late just to sell a bit more computers with or without stickers, but with the idea in buyers heads that they'll need new computers when everybody will turn to Vista. You do know how many people really believed Vista will be anything good. After so many years of "R&D" it ought to be. Me too was waiting for the 64 bit to finally work flawlessly and without the driver trouble of x64. And when Vista finally came, we had the "forcing it down your throat" trouble. If it came during said "sticker scheme", everybody except computer and OS vendors would have been happier...

This article mistakenly states machines marked Vista Capable could deliver all (or virtually all) of the value of Vista because Aero is basically window dressing.

Well there is a large window dressing industry. It has value. And in the computer and technology world people, especially consumers, value window dressing very much. It has value. Besides, its the customer who defines value, not a supplier. Try selling something you think is great but nobody wants. You will find that it has no value.

Microsoft deserves to get hammered by the consumers it misinformed.

It is strange that Microsoft let Intel bully or cajole it into acting fraudulently against its own customers' and its own business interest. The company seems to lack the strong sense of direction and identity it had in the past.

Most people ended buying systems with the 915G chipset instead, which does not support the Aero effect. Funny that Intel is not one of those being sued! Hummm...

Vista Capable means just that, it's capable of running vista. It doesn't mean you can use every Vista feature imaginable. You can't watch TV through the Media Center if your computer doesn't have a TV tuner.

Here's a comparison for you. My wife has a Toyota Yaris. They advertised all over television 39 mpg. The sticker on the car said 35mpg city, 39mpg highway. The car gets 33-34 mpg with mostly highway driving. Should we sue Toyota? Is there any question they lied to us? This was certainly a bigger misrepresentation than Vista Capable.