California Consumers Settle MS Antitrust Suit

lseltzer writes "According to AP, $1.1B in Microsoft products will go to California consumers to settle antitrust claims against the company. I bet the lawyers don't get paid in software." Actually, the article says that those who apply for some of the settlement will receive "vouchers redeemable for any manufacturer's computer-related products and software."

Comments

Wow

[houseofmore]

$1.1B in Microsoft products

What's that... a few hundred boxes of MS Office?

Re:Wow

[ender81b]

Fun with math!

MS Office XP Professional - $536

1,100,000,000/536 = 205,228 copies of MS Office XP Professional. With 34,501,130 people in the state that comes to one copy for every .005 people, unless I screwed up my math which is entirely possible.

Of course this little exercise in math shows you just how profitable the Office XP business is for microsoft. They sell a quarter million copies of software and make a billion dollars. You don't really think that it cost MS anywhere close to 1 billion dollars to support/code Office XP do you? Now take the fact that MS sells around 1 million copies a year (granted some are cheaper due to OEM, Enterprise Agreements, Education Discounts, etc) and you see why MS is so paranoid about losing its lead in the office line.

Consumers rejoice!

[Anonymous Coward]

"And in other news, the ACME toxic waste company has agreed to settle its lawsuits by giving out $1.1Billion in ACME brand toxic sludge, or vouchers good for any other brand of toxic waste.

Re:Consumers rejoice!

[Jeremiah Cornelius]

And in other news: convicted serial rapist, Joe Bloggs has been required by the courts to show restitution by showering his sweet, affectionate attentions on former victims.

Intangible goods

[nukey56]

Someone please explain this to me: why is it that the states can accept this settlement, which costs Microsoft NOTHING (aside from lost sales, yadda yadda), and actually bolsters their position by spreading their law-breaking product around, but they won't allow tobacco companies to do the same and distribute a quarter billion packs around the table? I mean, which is a bigger cancer stick, seriously?

Re:Software cost

[farnsworth]

it doesn't seem to be just MS software:

proceeds of the settlement will be distributed to members of the class in the form of vouchers redeemable for any manufacturer's computer-related products and software.

maybe the state of California can now afford that Oracle contract it signed... *ducks*

Hmm......

[starphish]

California: "Microsoft, we are going to sue you because you use unfair business practices by giving away your product to destroy your competition!"

Microsoft: "As a punishment, you should make us give away our products. That will teach us!"

California: "Sounds good to me!"

DOH!!!

Vouchers for Some-Little American Flags for Others

[Sean Clifford]

To paraphrase Mayor Quimby:

"Vouchers for some, little American flags for others."

Man, with one of these vouchers and my RIAA settlement check, ya think I can buy one of those cool transdermal food patches from ThinkGeek?

Re:Take a Look Here.

[Gonzoman]

Does it make a difference? I'm sitting here running Debian and listing to Rambling Jack Elliot does Woody Guthrie. What can Microsoft do to intrude on my mood?

If you think this is bad...

[tlambert]

If you think this is bad... ...Their first offer was to port the "dancing paperclip" to FreeBSD, Linux, and Solaris.

-- Terry

Hmmm, let's see

[m00nun1t]

I'm entitled to my voucher for $25 which I can use to get any software. How many copies of linux can I buy... let's see...

$25/$0 =


Divide by zero error. Post terminated.