Vista Capable scandal
Many will remember a few years back before the launch of Vista, Microsoft decided to tout some PC's as Vista capable. This seemed an innocent and easy way to boost sales but what happened is a different story.
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18.11.2008 PC buyers: 'Vista Capable' machines weren't Vista capable
How misleading was Microsoft's "Windows Vista Capable" campaign? Misleading enough for a judge to approve a federal trial.
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9.8.2007 Vista Capable Lawsuit Is Too Capable
It's time that Microsoft settled the Windows Vista Capable lawsuit, before the PR—and quite possibly legal—damages escalate.
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25.11.2008 Contributor scandal rocks Wikipedia
A recent scandal involving the fabricated identity of a Wikipedia editor is causing some to rethink the way in which user-driven sites should evaluate content.
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7.3.2007 Windows Vista (In)capable
What went wrong? I’ll tell you what went wrong: Microsoft execs - starting with Steve Ballmer - don’t care enough about their customers.
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3.3.2008 Vista Capable Logo Revealed
The Vista Capable PC program allows Microsoft partners that have a PC product that passed the Designed for Windows XP logo program to ship a new logo on those products that states "Designed for Microsoft Windows XP - Vista Capable."
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2.4.2006 Update: "Vista Capable" trial
The ongoing "Vista Capable" class-action lawsuit against Microsoft took an interesting turn the other day when an expert witness for the plaintiffs claimed that the Redmond company made more than $1.5 billion through their "Vista Capable" marketing campaign.
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6.1.2009 Why the Vista Capable Lawsuit Has No Class
The Windows Vista Capable lawsuit is over, but it shouldn't be.
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23.2.2009 Vista Capable Site Description Unchanged
Microsoft says it has not changed wording at its Web site to more clearly explain "Windows Vista Capable" label for PCs.
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11.4.2007 Microsoft Redefines "Vista Capable" as Minimum Experience
Lawsuit may have forced Microsoft to change what it means to be Vista Capable.
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9.4.2007 Hearing today in Windows Vista Capable suit
A hearing is set for 4 p.m. this afternoon in U.S. District Court in Seattle in a lawsuit over the "Windows Vista Capable" stickers that Microsoft and PC makers used to promote Windows XP computers last year, prior to Vista's launch.
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7.8.2007 Microsoft tries to stop more ‘Vista-capable’ e-mails from going public
Microsoft is trying to put the kibosh on more of its internal (and embarassing) e-mail messages around its Vista marketing plans going public.
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10.3.2008 Jim Allchin subpoenaed in Vista Capable lawsuit
Jim Allchin, the former co-president of Microsoft’s Platforms and Service division has been subpoenaed in the Vista Capable class action lawsuit.
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31.3.2008 Court to Microsoft: Vista Capable Appeal Denied
An appeals court ruled against Microsoft's request to appeal class action status in the 'Vista Capable' lawsuit – the case will continue
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23.4.2008 Ballmer backs away from Vista Capable legal row
Steve Ballmer has distanced himself from the ongoing “Vista Capable” legal spat by claiming he had no direct involvement in Microsoft’s marketing campaign for the operating system.
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6.10.2008 Class Action Lawsuit Claims 'Vista Capable' is Misleading
A lady in Washington state who apparently purchased a computer in late 2006 bearing the "Vista Capable" sticker, and who only later discovered it was only capable of running Vista Home Basic, has filed a class action lawsuit against Microsoft in her home state, seeking in excess of $5 million.
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4.4.2007 Vista Capable lawyers push to revive class action
As expected, lawyers for the plaintiffs in the long-running "Vista Capable" lawsuit against Microsoft Corp. have asked a federal judge to reinstate the case's class-action status.
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1.3.2009 Microsoft and PC vendors to offer upgrade coupon to promote Windows Vista-capable PCs in 4Q
Microsoft and the world's leading PC vendors have reached an agreement to promote the long-awaited Vista OS by offering PC buyers worldwide a free upgrade coupon, as a way of encouraging them to buy a Vista-capable PC as early as possible, according to market sources, citing information leaked from Taiwan-based PC makers.
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10.8.2006 Microsoft-Intel Capable Collusion?
Microsoft is going to be in a heap of trouble because of the Windows Capable lawsuit—and perhaps Intel, too. Windows Vista Capable certification for the Intel 915 chip set may have violated U.S. antitrust laws.
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29.2.2008 How to Install Vista Language Packs MUI on all versions of Vista + video tutorial
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Basic, Vista Home Premium, and Vista Business versions of the Microsoft licensing restrictions can only preserve a language!
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23.9.2008 The Vista Built-in Super Administrator Account Has Survived in Vista SP1
Windows Vista Service Pack 1 is designed to evolve the RTM version of the latest Windows client from Microsoft, made available in November 2006 to business customers, and in January 2007 to the general consumers.
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15.2.2008 Vista SP1 Is Out, XP SP3 Old News, the Pink Edition of Vista Is In
Windows Vista Service Pack 1 is now nothing more than water under the bridge, now that the service pack was released to manufacturing on February 4, 2008, shipping to general users on March 18.
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27.3.2008 Tell Hasta la Vista to XP - Time to Upgrade to Vista SP1
Like it or not, this is the right time not only to upgrade to Windows Vista Service Pack 1 but also to tell hasta la vista to Windows XP.
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30.6.2008 Instant Change Vista Product ID with Vista ProductID Changer
In past we have reviewed number of application to recover product key like Product Key Finder, WinGuggle, Windows product Key Finder.
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1.11.2009 Vista SP1 RC1 Flies Past Vista RTM and Windows XP SP2
Despite the fact that Microsoft has expressed its official position regarding testing Windows Vista Service Pack 1 ahead of its finalization, there is simply too much of a hunger for the service pack.
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27.12.2007 Vista SP1 Won't Resolve the 4 GB RAM Limitation of 32-bit Windows Vista
32-bit Windows operating systems, and Windows Vista makes no exception whatsoever to this rule, are limited in terms of the amount of system memory that can be addressed to no more than 4 GB.
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4.1.2008 Vista Loader 2.1.3 - Windows Vista Activator 2008 Support SP1 with No Boot String
Vista Loader is one of the most successful Vista activation crack available to date, second only to physical modify (hardmod) the BIOS to include SLIC table to make BIOS Vista activation-compliant.
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15.5.2008 x64 Vista SP2 JPG Rendering Performance Inferior to x86 Vista SP2's
The JPG rendering process on 64-bit flavors of Windows Vista Service Pack 2 is inferior to that on the 32-bit variants of the operating system.
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10.6.2009 Microsoft to Kill the Grace Timer and OEM BIOS Windows Vista Cracks with Vista SP1
With the advent of Windows Vista, cracks also became available being designed to bypass the activation process of the operating system.
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4.12.2007 New Vista OEM Activation Hack - Vista Boot by gkend
Thanks to Steve Jobs for this article on his blog and to our forum members to clecha, Nighthief and fitterphil120 for most of the findings. One again the “Chinese” come up with a new method to trick out the Vista Activation. We have seen Softmode and VistaLoader, however “ Vista Boot by gkend” does promise even more.
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21.5.2007Vista Capable scandal
Many will remember a few years back before the launch of Vista, Microsoft decided to tout some PC's as Vista capable. This seemed an innocent and
easy way to boost sales but what happened is a different story. The Vista capable idea was a genuine one at heart. It was designed to allow
consumer to buy new PC's with confidence that the new computer would run the latest version of Vista when it launched. The idea was genius for
Microsoft, they could sell more PC's (indirectly getting sales of the OS and software) and have consumers know they would be able to upgrade with
confidence. What happened was that Intel got in the way.
Read full story.....
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18.11.2008Update: "Vista Capable" trial
The ongoing "Vista Capable" class-action lawsuit against Microsoft took an interesting turn the other day when an expert witness for the plaintiffs
claimed that the Redmond company made more than $1.5 billion through their "Vista Capable" marketing campaign. The origins of the trial itself
are to be found in the months prior to Vista's release when many computers were sold with Windows XP and the promise that they would be capable of
running Vista. However, many of these PCs, which sold at a premium and bore the "Vista Capable" label, turned out to be only capable of running
Vista Basic. Hence, Microsoft is being sued for what many would call false advertising.
Read full story.....
neowin.net -
06.01.2009Samsung's co-CEOs quit in scandal-driven shakeup
Samsung's family line of succession has been broken -- at least temporarily -- in a shakeup that could pave the way for some reform at the
scandal-ridden conglomerate...
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15.05.2008Class Action Lawsuit Claims 'Vista Capable' is Misleading
A lady in Washington state who
apparently purchased a
computer in late 2006 bearing
the "Vista Capable"
sticker, and who only later
discovered it was only capable
of running Vista Home Basic,
has filed a class action
lawsuit against Microsoft in
her home state, seeking in
excess of $5 million...
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04.04.2007Is Microsoft 'capable' of stopping Vista Capable lawsuit?
Microsoft would dearly love the Vista Capable lawsuit to just go away, but once the wheels of justice start grinding, can any amount of grease stop
the squeaky wheel?
Microsofts Vista Capable class action lawsuit is in the news again, this time because Microsoft wants an
appeals court to reverse the decision to have granted the case official ˜class action status.
The whole situation bubbled up
because a number of consumers felt duped by the Vista Capable sticker that implied a computer with such a label would be able to run Vista, presumably
at least the ˜Home Premium version of Vista with the fancy Aero graphics, instead of the Vista Home Basic version which had no such capability.
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11.03.2008Windows Vista Capable PCs
Learn about choosing a Windows
Vista Capable PC for the
Windows Vista edition and
features that are right for
you...
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25.05.2006Were Vista Capable Stickers Incapable?
Microsoft may find it hard to
show that PCs carrying a
coveted Windows logo were
really ready for Windows
Vista.
The core issue: Were
computers carrying the Windows
Vista Capable sticker truly
Vista capable? Earlier today,
a Seattle judge issued a
ruling that indicates that an
answer should be warranted.
She denied a Microsoft request
to dismiss a lawsuit alleging
Microsoft's Windows Vista
Capable marketing violated the
Consumer Protection Act.
I'm no
lawyer, but I'd still say
Microsoft has got problems
here, if not with this lawsuit
then another.
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09.08.2007Ballmer backs away from 'Vista Capable' legal row
Steve Ballmer has distanced himself from the ongoing “Vista Capable” legal spat by claiming he had no direct involvement in
Microsoft’s marketing campaign for the operating system. In a document filed last Friday, the software giant’s CEO effectively exonerated
himself in the Windows Vista Capable blame game, choosing instead to point the finger at a pair of retired MS wonks:
"I was not involved
in any of the operational decisions about the Windows Vista Capable program. I was not involved in establishing the requirements computers must
satisfy to qualify for the Windows Vista Capable program. I was not involved in formulating any market strategy or any public messaging surrounding
the Windows Vista Capable program".
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06.10.2008HP's Fortunes Rise, Undaunted by Scandal
On Thursday, HP posted one of
its best performing quarters
in years, and a star quarter
even for a company that
hadn't been heading south
just two years ago. The
company posted $24.55 billion
in revenue, earning $2.2
billion - a full 9% of that
amount - in profit. Is this
the same company that's
embroiled in a corporate
boardroom scandal?..
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17.11.2006Microsoft Partners: Vista Campaign Was Deceptive
Microsoft may soon be
defending itself from a class action lawsuit over its
'Vista Capable' marketing campaign, and several of the vendor's channel partners aren't the least bit surprised.
Microsoft
launched the Vista Capable campaign in order to keep PC sales strong after its decision to delay the release of Vista to consumers until after the
2006 holiday season. Consumers who bought a PC with the 'Vista Capable' sticker would get an XP machine and then later be eligible for a free or
discounted upgrade to Vista.
What the campaign didn't specify was which of the four versions of Vista -- Home Basic, Home
Premium, Business, or Ultimate -- a PC was capable of running. And according to solution providers, therein lies the rub.
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14.02.2008Claim: Microsoft earned $1.5B from "Vista Capable" PCs
An expert estimates Microsoft earned more than $1.5 billion through the sale of PCs labeled as "Vista Capable," according to a court document.
Microsoft allowed PC makers to label some XP-running PCs as "Vista Capable" prior to the release of the Vista operating system in
early 2007...
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04.01.2009Microsoft softened 'Vista Capable' requirements for Intel, e-mails indicate
Although its CEO claims no knowledge of the event, and other Microsoft execs raised opposition, Microsoft dropped a key requirement for "Vista
Capable" PCs at Intel's request in 2006, according to e-mails now unsealed by a federal judge...
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18.11.2008E-mails: Vista specs changed to help Intel
Filings unsealed in the Vista Capable case Thursday appear to bolster plaintiffs' claims that Microsoft loosened the requirements needed for a PC to
get a 'Vista Capable' sticker in order to help Intel sell its chipsets.
Read one of the filings
here (PDF).
As the Vista
Capable program was initially drafted, computers with Intel's 915 chipset would not qualify for a 'Vista Capable' sticker because it did not work
with Vista's most advanced graphics.
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14.11.2008Is Your PC 'Vista Capable'?
The Answer is Maybe
Microsoft will start rolling
out in April new
"Vista
Capable" logos for
PCs, despite the fact that it
still has yet to release the
final hardware specs for
Windows Vista. As noted over
on the InsideMicrosoft blog,
"The Vista Capable page at
Microsoft TechNet explains
that PCs that are Capable must
pass the current Windows XP
certification, and then meet
certain CPU/RAM/GPU
requirements in order to bear
the logo." But a Microsoft
spokesman added this caveat:
"The Windows Vista Capable
program does not represent
minimum hardware requirements
for the different versions of
Windows Vista ? we look
forward to providing
additional information
regarding minimum hardware
requirements for Windows Vista
and the Windows Vista logo
program in the coming
months."
jcxp.net -
01.04.2006Internal e-mails show concern over 'Vista capable' program
As the looming court battle over the "Windows Vista capable" program draws nearer, a federal judge unsealed internal e-mails which show that
Microsoft may have been aware of potential problems long before the suit was filed...
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29.02.2008Microsoft wants to freeze the Vista incapable lawsuit
EVER SLIPPERY, Microsoft asked that the "Vista Capable" lawsuit against it be stayed while it appeals the judge's approval of class action
standing for the case.
The lawsuit, filed almost a year ago, claims that Microsoft misled punters in late 2006 by letting PC makers stick
"Vista Capable" labels on lower power machines sold with Windows XP that were later found capable of running only the Home Basic version of Windows
Vista rather than the full version that includes most of Vista's new features including the Aero eye-candy graphical interface.
It
claims that PC buyers paid more for those machines than they would have parted with had they known that they wouldn't be able to support Windows
Vista when that was released a few months later in early 2007.
Read full story.....
neowin.net -
11.03.2008Microsoft-Intel 'Capable' Collusion?
Microsoft is going to be in a heap of trouble because of the Windows Capable lawsuit—and perhaps Intel, too. Windows Vista Capable certification
for the Intel 915 chip set may have violated U.S. antitrust laws. For more than a year, I've complained that OEMs shipped Windows Vista PCs with
deficient graphics accelerators. I never imagined that Microsoft was involved. Why would the company want to ruin the Vista experience?
But e-mails released yesterday (while I was out of the office at a Microsoft event, damn it) suggest otherwise. I was wrong about Microsoft. By all
appearances, the company colluded with Intel to qualify a knowingly, deficient graphics chip set as being Windows Vista Capable. Todd Bishop of the
Seattle Post-Intelligencer blogged the full text of internal Microsoft e-mails late yesterday. The communications were released as part of discovery
for the Windows Vista Capable class-action lawsuit.
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29.02.2008Microsoft Redefines "Vista Capable" as Minimum Experience
Two weeks ago, Dianne Kelley
started a class-action lawsuit
against Microsoft alleging the
software company is engaging
in deceptive practices by
branding new computers with a
Windows Vista Capable logo
even if they could only run
Vista Home Basic. Although
Microsoft strongly refutes
Kelley's claims, the threat
of a lawsuit may have caused
the software giant to change
its description of the Windows
Vista Capable program from:
" Through the
Windows Vista Capable program,
Windows XP-based PCs that are
powerful enough to run Windows
Vista are now available from
leading PC manufacturers
worldwide, including Acer
Inc., Dell Inc., Fujitsu
Limited, Gateway Inc., HP,
Lenovo, NEC Corp., Sony Corp.,
Toshiba and more. The Windows
Vista Capable logo is designed
to assure customers that the
PCs they buy today will be
ready for an upgrade to
Windows Vista and can run the
core experiences of Windows
Vista ."
to
" A new PC running
Windows XP that carries the
Windows Vista Capable PC logo
can run Windows Vista. All
editions of Windows Vista will
deliver core experiences such
as innovations in organizing
and finding information,
security, and reliability. All
Windows Vista Capable PCs will
run these core experiences at
a minimum. Some features
available in the premium
editions of Windows Vista -
like the new Windows Aero user
experience - may require
advanced or additional
hardware ."
neowin.net -
09.04.2007Ballmer files declaration in Vista Capable case
Lawyers representing Microsoft in the "Windows Vista Capable" case filed a
declaration by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer today, in
which Ballmer says he was "not involved in any of the operational decisions about the Windows Vista Capable program."
winbeta.org -
04.10.2008E-mails: Microsoft execs raised 'Vista Capable' concerns
At a hearing in federal court in Seattle today, lawyers debated whether the lawsuit over Microsoft's "Windows Vista Capable" stickers should be
granted class-action status.
As in past legal cases against the company,
internal e-mails from Microsoft executives and employees were once again used as evidence to bolster the plaintiffs' case.
Quick
background, for those just tuning in: The suit, filed last year, alleges that some people bought "Vista Capable" machines thinking they would be
able to run all the Windows Vista features that Microsoft was promoting -- such as Aero Glass, Flip3D, and the Media Center interface -- even when
their machines were only capable of running the bare-bones Windows Vista Home Basic. Microsoft says that there was plenty of information available to
people to distinguish among the different Vista editions.
winbeta.org -
09.02.2008
