Iowa Court May Order Microsoft Refunds

dowobeha writes: "The Des Moines Register is reporting that thousands of Windows 98 users in Iowa could get $40 refunds from Microsoft. The Iowa Supreme Court has found the big boys from Redmond guilty of price fixing in violation of a 1976 Iowa law. According to the report, this is the first antitrust ruling in any state that favors 'indirect purchasers' (regular consumers who got Windows preinstalled on their newly purchased computer) rather than "direct purchasers" (manufacturers who license Windows to distribute on new machines)."

Comments

MS, Copyright, and the GPL

[Anonymous Coward]

To:Microsoft Corporation
From:Jack Of All Lawfirms, on behalf of the Free Software Foundation
Re:Infringement of copyright under terms specified in GNU General Public License

Dear Sir/Madam:

This firm represents the Free Software Foundation of Cambridge, MA. It has come to our attention that your organization is violating copyrights retained by our client through the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL). The GPL permits developers and companies the ability to freely publish program source code alongside execuatable computer applications. Other developers and companies may use code obtained under terms specified in the GPL to add enhancements or for use in their own programs, provided the program itself is made available under the terms of the GPL.

It has come to our attention that numerous computer applications (listed below) developed and distributed by your organization, Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, WA, is in violation of copyright and the GPL through the use of GPL licensed code developed and distributed by the Free Software Foundation. Specific violations are listed below.

Under terms of the GPL and terms listed in United States Copyright Law, this firm demands immediate cease and desist of distribution of the listed programs until the specific violations are removed. Alternatively, publishing of the products on your corporate Internet website, http://www.microsoft.com/, completed to abide by terms of the GPL will be acceptable.

It should be noted this notice is being served to the open and free source software community for their input into the matter.

Please expect immediate action following notice of this blantant copyright violation and blatant violation of the terms of the GPL.

Sincerely,

Jack
Attorney
Jack Of All Lawfirms

List of products (non-exhaustive):

• Windows 98, 98SE, ME, 2000, XP (all editions)
• Office 97, 98, 2000, X, XP (all editions)
• Internet Explorer (all versions)
• Windows Media Player (all versions)
• Internet Information Server (all versions/editions)
• MSN Messenger (all versions)
• Visual Studio (all versions/editions)

List of violations (present in each product listed above):

• Use of the following at the start of each program: int main(int argc, char* argv)
• Use of the semicolon character at the end of each program line: ;
• Use of the following at the end of each subroutine: return
• Use of the following in numerous instances in each program: while
• Use of the following in numerous instances in each program: for
• Use of the following in numerous instances at the top of each source file: #include
• Use of the following function: strcpy

Re:MS, Copyright, and the GPL

[Maserati]

Whether the details are right or wrong is unimportant. This post is +10: Insightful and Funny.

Keep your head on your shoulders

[carlcmc]

To quote the articel "The consumers say Microsoft unlawfully and willfully maintained a monopoly that artificially drove up the price of Windows 98. The company violated the state's 1976 Competition Law, the plaintiffs allege. That law says monopolies are illegal because they exclude competition and fix prices."

If you hate Microsoft or not you must simply reject this assertion that there was a monoply. How many choices do we know about for operating systems? Were there individual components that you could buy to piece a computer together without those charges built in? Lets use some common sense here...

Re:Is it too late to move to Iowa?

[Idylwyld]

Now it's not that bad here...as long as you've got nothing else to compare it to.

god dammit

[dbc001]

you dont have to link to both the article and the parent site - people who want to visit the parent site can use the frickin backspace key

Re:Is it too late to move to Iowa?

[Clay Mitchell]

Life is all about your point of view.

Re:Bar Screw

[ccweigle]

... some people just read /. for the articles.

Re:Of course...

[unicron]

I think the real question is, why would anyone over the age of 14, like myself, still read this site?

Re:Bar Screw

[mstorer3772]

Where the fuck did that come from? Just cross posting from alt.porn.generic-stories-no-one-believes-actually- happened or what?

In related news...

[BurritoWarrior]

Citizens of West Virginia will be awarded 40 ounces of moonshine for their next date with a sibling.

Re:Consumers, not states, brought the case

[Cryptnotic]

artical? what's an artical?

Re:Consumers, not states, brought the case

[Cryptnotic]

Actually, for that matter, what is 'mentiones'?

Re:Iowa cracks...

[Idylwyld]

Le Mars? You poor bastard