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Microsoft CA Settlement Claim Forms Hit Mailboxes
mattOzan writes "So I got my Standard Claim Form in the mail today from the California State Superior Court, as I assume many other California residents did as well. This is the mechanism to get a chunk of the US$1.1 billion settlement Microsoft reached with the state of California for their anti-trust lawsuit. All the legal details (PDF) can be obtained online.
Some of the fine print: the money will be doled out as vouchers based on what qualifying MS software you or your company obtained between 1995 and 2001 (nothing for 'server computers' or Macs). Two-thirds of all unclaimed money will be given to low-income California schools for computer purchases, and vouchers may also be donated to charity."
The lawsuit alleges that Microsoft violated North Carolina's antitrust and unfair competition laws. The story is here.
The settlement, which last Thursday received preliminary approval from the North Carolina Business Court, will make vouchers available to class members that may be used to buy any manufacturer''s desktop, laptop and tablet computers, any software available for sale to the general public and used with those computer products, and specified peripheral devices for use with computers. If all class members claim and are issued the vouchers for which they are eligible under the settlement, the maximum value of the vouchers issued to class members will total approximately $89 million.
Under the terms of the settlement agreement, Microsoft will provide one- half of the value of the "unissued vouchers" - i.e., one-half of the difference between $89 million and the value of vouchers issued to class members - to North Carolina''s public schools in the form of vouchers that may be used by schools to purchase a broad range of hardware products, Microsoft(R) and non-Microsoft software, and professional development services. In the event any vouchers issued to class members are not redeemed, Microsoft will provide one-half of the value of those unredeemed vouchers to the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction.
Given that Apple has so much of a huge market share in schools, one has to wonder if vouchers good for MS products are a way for MS to start claiming some of that Apple market share as an intended/unintended side effect. One really wonders when you see the quote from their counsel...
"We're pleased by the opportunity to help schools all across North Carolina get the computers and software they need," said Brad Smith, general counsel for Microsoft. "This settlement allows us to focus on the future and building great software, and avoids the cost and uncertainty of litigation."
Seeing "non-Microsoft" software spelled out in NC's agreement is particularly heart warming though.
You can get Lindows to do the leg work for you for the next 8 days.5 1,10006232,00.htm">here</a>.
<br><br>
<a href="http://msfreepc.com/">MSFreePC.com</a>
<br><br>
The attempted shutdown was reported <a href="http://www.silicon.com/software/os/0,390246
Beep beep.
That's not a settlement, it's a joke. This way, Microsoft will end up earning more money... Eventually. Give some computers to school etc... Laugh all the way to the bank when they start upgrading/buying additional MS software... Again, this is a joke.
Given that Apple has so much of a huge market share in schools, one has to wonder if vouchers good for MS products are a way for MS to start claiming some of that Apple market share as an intended/unintended side effect. One really wonders when you see the quote from their counsel...
Either way, it's a good thing. Any extra computers in schools that need them are better than none at all. Even a few Commodore 64s or TRS-80s would be preferrable to having nothing.
Kudos have to go for the plan to give unused vouchers to the state's schools. I wonder how many will go on computers that come preloaded with Windows though? Will we see a story on Slashdot about a school tech trying to use the vouchers to buy a computer that *isn't* preloaded with a Microsoft OS?
Why? The article says the vouchers can be used for any software or hardware, as long as it's PC related, not just MS Software. I'm sure there are charities that would be grateful of the chance to get some better PCs or perhaps even just a new scanner.
Microsoft is really going to feel that one, since the computer store is the one who'll end up losing the $. Nice work.
And what kind of computers and software will they be buying? Considering how schools are going from Apple to stupid, chances are they'll be Windows boxes.
If that's the case, great deal for Microsoft. Hand Microsoft their money right back to them and increase their mind and market share. What a brilliant way to settle a dispute.
Join Tor today!
1. Engage in unfair business practices
2. Lose class action lawsuits
3. Profit!
Wer mit Ungeheuern kämpft, mag zusehn, dass er nicht dabei zum Ungeheuer wird. --Nietzsche
I got mine a while back. But I haven't filled it out yet... 'Cause I'm lazy. :(
All told, though, I think I just want to frame the voucher above my monitor for a while... ;)
When the big MS antitrust case was running, at the very beginning, I believe MS was trying to make a very specific point about the relationship of IE to Windows. MS was saying that their HTML rendering engine was a component of Windows (much like Gecko was the rendering component of Netscape) and that IE was a thin application shell that wrapped around that engine to create the behavior of a browser like Netscape. Other Windows applications can use that rendering engine, such as their help. So they could construct help files like web pages, but the app that you see them in is a help tool, not a browser.
That architecture is different than Netscape who carried their own rendering engine along with many other components as a bundle in their app. That difference in architecture is where the rathole regarding "taking IE out of Windows" comes from - removing the shell (as the CMU prof demonstrated) is relatively trivial, but if you object to the presence of the rendering engine, then the removal of that is not only painful but breaks other parts of Windows such as help.
Of course, it doesn't help that MS was also being an ass about this all.
Netscape (actually, I think it's other plantiffs such as Sun's Java) would complain that their ability to interact with the interfaces of these internal components was disadvantageous vs. Microsoft's own access and ability to enact change in the interfaces.
The remedy to this solution would have been hard to implement I think - you have to force Microsoft to publish and commit to a set of public interfaces and functionality, make them available to all comers, and create some mechanism through which MS can't have back-door entry. In practice, quite difficult to do, especially in areas like this, subject to significant evolution.
Once again, it doesn't help that MS was being an ass about this too.
OK, now flash forward to Eolas. For competitive reasons, MS got pulled into having plug-in interfaces. Later, they took the ball and moved it beyond where Netscape had already set it. Today, those public plug-in interfaces are the way that Real audio can be a pluggable replacement to Windows Media, or that Macromedia in some future Flash will become yet another option. Again, to a lesser extent, these kinds of plug in interfaces are what allows Sun to build a pluggable JVM (although I believe this is a pretty different mechanism).
So, if MS decides to lose the EOLAS case, that pretty much gives them carte blanche to slam the doors through the existing public interfaces shut and switch back to proprietary interfaces of their own, and their own control. In Soviet Russia, you don't plug into the brower, it plugs in to you (sorry, couldn't help it)! In a post-EOLAS world, poor Microsoft can't publish an API that allows Quicktime or Flash or RealMedia to appear in a window because they can't afford the license. But that won't stop them from doing a non-infringing implementation of Windows Media will it?
I think this is definitely NOT a case where the enemy of my enemy is my friend.
37: Mother's father's mother's father's mother's maiden name______________
193: Last digit in decimal expansion of pi___
7.92x10^14: Meaning of life_
The Law of Falling Bodies
I disagree with you completely, because you obviously didn't RTFA.
As I commented earlier to another person that doesn't know what those blue underlines are for in the article, the settlement FAQ clearly states that the vouchers go towards buying computer hardware and software, and "The qualifying computer hardware or software does not have to be a Microsoft product."
Therefore, those schools could go and purchase Macintosh or Linux hardware and software if they wanted to, and nothing is standing in their way.
evil adrian
If M$ is allowed to pay that 1.1 billion using the retail value of it's software, then that's not even going to start to hurt them, given their profit margins on software. I don't know what the cost for M$ to produce a bulk CD is, but I'm betting it's waaaay lower than the retail price for the software on it. And most of the software would be one CD + a bunch of license keys, anyhow.
Does everything include nothing?
What is "linux hardware?"
The way I look at it forcing Linux or MacOS [only] on students is just as bad. I think students at an early age should get experience with all three. Really by time a student is 16 or so they ought to know how to use at least two of the prominent desktop OSes.
Tom
Someday, I'll have a real sig.
Whatever the financial aspects of this case (and one has to assume that whatever the settlement, it will be trivial compared to Microsoft's costs in other areas, such as fire-fighting the Linux guerilla bushwars), it is a definite victory for the market to have a solid verdict against Microsoft.
Being convicted of being a "monopolist", with random near-irrelevant punishments hurts no-one. But being convicted of stealing from the consumer and being told to give something back, that's something else.
I believe this is a landmark moment, akin to the first judgements against big tobacco, and with a similar future impact.
Ceci n'est pas une signature
i bet you wouldn't be saying that if the you had paid $253 and was refunded $102 dollars.
the reply above is correct - it is the store that will lose, not microsoft. congratulations - some poor employee is probably going to get their wages docked $151.
two thirds of the unclaimed money will be given to charity. Let me guess, in the name of Microsoft, so they can claim that money back as a tax write off. If it were donated in the name of the people that did not claim, fine, at least they can recieve 1/3 of that back. but this goes all to microsft. reminds me of the simpsons. "with the tax loophole swe only pay $3 a year" or something. total crappo.
You learn how to talk with people way earlier on. If by age 12 you're kid doesn't know how to socialize... well you might as well just tatoo "weirdo" on his forehead.
Quite frankly in this day in age you should [as an adult] be fairly comfortable with computers. This is why we have the dime a dozen "computer programmer" who after finishing a two month program [without having seen a computer before] is now a professional.
I dunno. In my school we had the apple IIs in kindergarden. We were only allowed like 10 mins a day or something [e.g. one lesson or game]. By age 12 most kids in my class were fairly apt at using MacOS [was System6 at the time]. And I don't think the majority of people from my class are inept anti-socialites...
Tom
Someday, I'll have a real sig.
The experience I got with computers at school was useless(Windows 3.11 (this was 95-99) and Paint on MacOS somethingreallyold, oh and typing on an Apple ][), I highly doubt there are many people out there that can attribute learning anything much about computers in the k-12 system. And really Windows is the prominent desktop OS. And if you can get around in Windows than OSX and Linux won't be difficult. It's high time that Linux proponents accept that Windows owns, and will continue to own the consumer desktop market, and focus on where Linux is and can be strong, servers, enterprise desktop, and devices.
For Linux to work in the consumer desktop space there almost has to be one standardized, inflexible, not oft updated distribution, and I think many of the proponents of Linux on the desktop would bitch about that just as much as they do Windows now. Joe six-pack just wants to watch streaming porn, play games, and look at stupid PowerPoint slides his friend sent. He doesn't give a flying fuck about open source Radeon drivers, free as in speech, nifty CLI tricks, or multiple desktops.
So to my mind introducing students to Windows, and probably only Windows, isn't a bad thing that's what they're probably going to end up using, and GUIs between the three aren't vastly different anyway.
"Windows Me offers tremendous reliability and stability improvements..." -- Paul Thurott
So they won't be so careless next time, then?
From the form:
"Complete for each of the eligible Microsoft products listed below that you purchased between February 18, 1995 and December 15, 2001 for use in California.
Software for server computers or Apple computers is not eligible."
Pretty clear that Mac Office is not part of the settlement.
I'm a consultant - I convert gibberish into cash-flow.
Your post was nothing more half-ass troll. You're telling me people who know windows will be proficient in Linux?
Yeah fucking right. Hell half of the people who claim to know windows can hardly install a patch or two let alone run and maintain a linux box.
As for the "oh what use is it [re: apple ii]" sure you won't be playing "geoworld learner II" at work for money but the idea of using a computer [e.g. typing, working with media, etc...] is as fundamental as learning how to grip a pencil [which as I recall they taught us in early grades].
I'd agree if a school were still using an apple II now I would call them a bit dated...
Tom
Someday, I'll have a real sig.
I think making kids use Commodore 64s or TRS-80s would be a great thing, since they would learn more about how computers work, rather than just what pretty icons to click. I know I learned far more using my TRS-80 than Windows ever taught me.
No, I didn't say proficient, I said able to use. Anyone who has used Windows before will be able to navigate KDE/Gnome without issue, they might not utilize the environment to it's fullest, but the fundamental things are the same.
"Windows Me offers tremendous reliability and stability improvements..." -- Paul Thurott
FFFA: "Q: What can the vouchers be used for? (Top)
A: You can exchange your vouchers for cash by submitting proof of purchases you made after July 18, 2003 of the following computer products: Any desktop, laptop, or tablet computer made by any manufacturer...."
Ok, so since 99.9% of these computers have Windows on them, usually with Works and a few other things, I have to AGAIN get stuck with software I don't want?
Great... I wonder how much this "Settlement" is going to make microsoft in sales of Windows...
or make Lexmark on sales of anti-trust printers...
Pretty clear that Mac Office is not part of the settlement.
I stand corrected. I didn't read the form, just the FAQ. But I guess I wonder why that is? If MSFT was found to have an actionable monopoly in Office products, doesn't that extend to Office on the Mac? Is the supposition that there is more Office competition on the Mac?
I suppose it's actually because the actionable part is the bundling agreements; on a PC, Office often comes with a new computer, no choice. Whereas on a Mac, the consumer had to make the decision to purchase it on their own.
--
$tar -xvf
Given that Apple has so much of a huge market share in schools,
I realize I live out in the backwoods (of north caorlina no less) but in all my years of public schooling i never saw one apple in a school or community college lab.
Note to apple: Your products are expensive. Many many schools do not have money to throw around. Perhaps big city schools can afford to get apple only labs...but smaller ones often cannot. And there is a lot of backwoods between the east and west coast.
If you can't see the value in jet powered ants you should turn in your nerd card. - Dunbal (464142)
Jeez dude - you really are some piece of work. You're the kind of jackass that drives down the road and laughs at someone broke down on the side needing just a little help.
I'd bet that the clerk you screwed over might (and this is a big maybe) make $10/hour. That's two days pay for the guy, he might have a family too and that ~$150 you effectively stole from him might have been his electric bill. Maybe not - maybe it was just his beer money but in any case it was his. And even if he didn't pay and the store did the bottom line was that the money wasn't yours.
People like you make me sick. You're probably also one of the first assholes to bitch about how shitty things are in the world - how the establishment is holding you down and you can probably find some way to justify what you did so ultimately it isn't your fault - instead it's the responsibility of the clerk to be more careful, or the store to be less stupid, or how it's ok because it was Microsoft, or whatever.
In reality there is nothing wrong with the world - there's nothing bad about an ~8000 mile diameter ball of rock - it's the people that make it suck and you, jerkwad, are one of them...
Dinosaurs, then humans, then ??? Whatever creature is next could you please step up the plate and get this over with...?
Two years ago there was a class-action lawsuit and payout for overcharging of CDs. I filled out the web form expecting $20, but never heard anything. Perhaps that was the cause of some spam.
Such arrangements are extremely common in class action suits. For example, the one recently settled with some music company (last year, reported here, dont remember when or who) would give something like $5 credit for a CD purchase, with the unclaimed balance going to schools and libraries.
Manipulate the moderator system! Mod someone as "overrated" today.
Some reasons why Microsoft owes many of us money.
In case you haven't heard, Microsoft (MSFT) has been deeply unprofitable since 1996, when it began to rely on holes in the GAAP accounting standards that allowed it to report historic profits in its NASDAQ filings up until this very day, so making it look like the hottest business since ACME, Inc.. Large fund managers bought into it to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars, making MS at its peak ($700B) which for comparison made it the largest component of the S&P 500, the equivalent of the 16th largest country or ~1.5% of the GDP of Earth. Heh, and we thought it was Windows.
Who cares? The biggest funds involved were retirement funds of large social programs across the US, who automatically invest in S&P components at rates proportional to the components' value. MS paid for its bottom line with those peoples' money, so much so that pentioners are majority owners of MS today. Too bad for them that the bottom fell out of MS stock and their savings are worthless. But it did help create two of the richest personal accounts on Earth.
You could argue that this was all legal and that they won the king of the hill prize. Perhaps. But is it ethical to block GAAP reforms via corporate shills in Congress (e.g. Joe Lieberman) so your huge losses won't be exposed? Enron execs are being hung out to dry for being only slightly on the other side of that thin line in the sand. No, it's likely MS knew what it was up to. As Bill Parish, who broke the story, tells:
"Microsoft's perspective is best reflected by Bob Herbold, Chief Operating Officer, to whom the CFO reports. Bob very sincerely replied, "Bill, everyone is doing it.""
I'm just amazed that a Slashdot reader was willing to pay $102 for MS software in the first place.
When I am king, you will be first against the wall.
The important part of learning computers in my opinion is being part of a vital community surrounding it. I had an Atari ST in high school and college, and found it difficult to connect to other Atari ST owners. I lived in a small town with no BBS's, user groups, etc. When I got to college, everyone had PC's.
I used to program my Atari ST in Modula-2, and figured out everything on my own. There was some stuff I never figured out, but would have if I could have interacted in a community. I also had a PC emulator on my Atari (Norton SI rating of 0.3!) that I actually used more as time went on. If I hit a block with something, there were hundreds of Turbo Pascal programmers around me that I could connect to. There was also the Internet for help.
When it comes to learning about computers, it really helps if you can learn from someone who knows a lot more than you. Actually, that applies to everything. Because of this, I would doubt the usefulness of a Commodore-64 now.
If tits were wings it'd be flying around.
You learn how to talk with people way earlier on. If by age 12 you're kid doesn't know how to socialize... well you might as well just tatoo "weirdo" on his forehead.
A lot of people with ADD or learning disabilities, myself included, often don't learn how to have positive useful interactions until they're much older.
I think this actually is a problem. There are a lot of things that would be useful to learn in school that aren't taught because they're considered taboo subjects. Things like ethics, morality, fairness, dealing with emotions, and social skills. They get some mention in kindergarten of course ("Play fair", "Share", "Don't hit someone if you're mad at them") but at that age kids really don't have the emotional maturity to understand and incorporate the information, or to understand why it's important.
I think that's why you see a huge boom in the self-help industry, with people desperately trying to figure out why they can't motivate themselves, or feel depressed or isolated, etc. It's only as grown ups that people are trying to become better individuals, where they have the opportunity to do so.
As you point out in your post, computers aren't hard to figure out. I think that the overall health of this country would be better if our schools focused as much time and attention instilling ethics, morality (yes, this *can* be done without religion!), responsibility, and civic awareness in our kids as they do trying to teach them computer skills. Since software and technology change so rapidly anyway, the key is just to give them enough exposure to computers so they're not nervous or afraid around them.
As someone working in a tech-related field, I find the #1 problem with people unfamiliar with computers is that they're afraid and nervous around them and so they don't use the same common sense they'd use in the real world. So, they won't trust a stranger knocking on their door but might give their credit card in an e-mail thinking that their bank sent it to them. As long as kids don't fear computers (10 minutes a day sounds about right, although you could probably get by with even less), it should be fine.
My concern is that if there is too much emphasis on computers, then other skills that are much more timeless are ignored. I also think that there's much less emphasis on critical thinking and personal analysis in high school, since the assumption is that all the smart/well-off kids are going to college anyway.
Karma: Chevy Kavalierma.
So do you think you could the EFF as a charity for these purposes? And don't you think you should count the EFF as a charity for these purposes?
I used to write games in assembler on my TRS-80 when I was ~11. I don't do anything to that complicated now. Somewhere along the way I must have lost a few braincells. Probably happened in High School. :)
I don't know what the cost for M$ to produce a bulk CD is, but I'm betting it's waaaay lower than the retail price for the software on it.
You're "betting"? You're BETTING???
Next time you find OfficeXP being sold on the shelves for 30 cents (the cost of an average CD-R, and pressed CDs can be even cheaper) PLEASE email me!
Oh yeah, and according to the article (and the article summary), non-MS s/w and h/w can be purchased too.
Endless arguments over trivial contradictions in books written by ignorant savages to explain thunder in the dark.
Ok, give someone a voucher - the person holding the voucher quite likely already has a Windows machine at home, and maybe needs that new "Student & Teacher Edition" of Microsoft Office.
Chances are, people are going to blow the vouchers on more Microsoft software. Even then, the vouchers aren't *that* much - the average Joe probably doesn't have his proof of purchase for old software anyway. A business might, and they could use the $$ they get back to fund their Windows XP upgrade.
Sorry, but I highly doubt that any company is going to say "Yay! Now we can switch to Linux!" - they're just going to add it to the existing IT budget & buy more MS stuff.
The only TRUE winners in class action suits.. they get paid LOTS regardless of which side they are on. Regardless if they win or loose...
:)
Often, they get to keep the unclaimed funds too ( but I see in this case, its different ).
They are in one of the few industries that can go out and produce work from peoples suffering, and not have to 'succeed' to make $.. I think I'm in the wrong business
---- Booth was a patriot ----
In WV, we have a settlement underway as well. The maximum amount in vouchers that Microsoft will pay is $18 million with a similar prevision for the poorest of the poor schools. However, the lawyers are authorized for up to $9 million in fees for this case. I suspect that the real winner in all of this is not the consumers at all and not even Microsoft but the law firms.
From the FAQ:
"Q: What benefits are available under the settlement?
A: You will receive vouchers redeemable for cash after the purchase of a wide variety of software and computer hardware products.
Sort like "Hey, you tried to poison me with your product!", so they respond "Oh, I'm so sorry sir. Here's a coupon for a credit towards a fresh batch of our new poison".
Some people say I hate Microsoft. I don't, I'm a cynic. Justice has not been served against Bill Gates' company. He's a liar and a thief, as are some of his employees (note I said some - there are thousands of good, honest hard-working people at Microsoft, but their leaders are just foul). Microsoft has benefitted greatly from their dishonest gains, and giving away vouchers is really just another way to continue their march towards total dominance in the software world.
Call me a fanatic, laugh at my naive idealism, or even mod me down into the basement. But what of my above statement isn't an accurate statement of the truth?
Until the public receives true justice by punishing Microsoft for their evil deeds, cynics like me will continue to not shut-up.
Ruby on Rails Screencast
"Smithers & Co., a research firm in London, calculated the cost of these footnoted options and concluded that the American companies granting them overstated their profits by as much as half in the financial year ending in 1998. In some cases, particularly that of high-tech firms (which tend to be generous with options), the disparity is even greater. For instance, Microsoft, the world's most valuable company, declared a profit of $4.5 billion in 1998; when the cost of options awarded that year, plus the change in the value of outstanding options, is deducted, the firm made a loss of $18 billion."
;)
And strange this, Buffet weighed in against:
"Some maintain that these numbers exaggerate the problem: there is genuine dispute over how best to calculate and account for the cost of executive options. But this is quibbling. Warren Buffett, a well-known American investor, put the case succinctly for tightening the rules on share-option schemes in the recent annual report of his investment company, Berkshire Hathaway. "Accounting principles offer management a choice: pay employees in one form and count the cost, or pay them in another form and ignore the cost. Small wonder then that the use of options has mushroomed," he observes. "If options aren't a form of compensation, what are they? If compensation isn't an expense, what is it? And, if expenses shouldn't go into the calculation of earnings, where in the world should they go?""
Well, he is good at analyzing long-term value
I sent off my voucher three days ago and I think when I get it back I'm going to buy a copy of Mandrake and a nice new flat panel monitor. I never knew there would actually be a benefit to being a previously loyal money-losing microsoft customer.
Unfortunately, after looking over the information on the linked webpage, I will not qualify for the settlement. I am running an assortment of MS software, such as Windows XP, Windows 2000 Server and 2003 Server, and Office 2000, but I have never purchased a piece of software. Oh well. :)
That said, I find it very interesting that the younger generation seems to rely on computers for all jobs, all careers and their very existence. In reality, there are many many more jobs now that require the use of computers, but the level of education required to run those systems is minimal. It's no different pressing a sandwich selection button that it was looking at a price tag and punching buttons on a cash register, except that you don't have to be as careful because the machine does most of the work for you.
On the other hand, managerial, design, programming, and other technical jobs require more training than ever before. But the bottom line is that people will still be trained on whatever the company uses for equipment, regardless of whether or not they've ever used it. The reason for getting the training in school isn't as important to the actual job anymore, but rather in most cases it's simply used as an indicator to see if you're trainable.
I wish we'd stop forcing more and more technology on our people and instead insist that the basics are concentrated on first - the ability to think for ourselves, and be able to right those thoughts down on paper in a way that others can read and understand it. The level of spelling and grammer accuracy is falling at a staggering rate in our schools and it's showing up in many areas now.
I use and like all three platforms (although I hate the Micro$oft company philosophically) because they are all easy to use desktop GUIs that have a place and a purpose in our computing lives. Having been taught initially on a mainframe, I like and appreciate the command line very much as well. I get a real kick out of people that say "what's a command line?".
Have you hugged your penguin today?
This has probably been said already, but I don't think it will hurt too much to hear it again (and no, I am not whoring - I don't care if you mod this up or not):
Personally, I'd much rather see 100% of this money go to schools. I've purchased many a Microsoft product in the past (for myself and others, sadly), and I'm just as qualified as many to receive a piece of this pie. However, I strongly believe that the schools need it alot more than I/we do, especially given the current state of California's educational budget. Dump the money into the kids, you'll see a much larger return down the road.
One possible idea could be to purchase a ton of simple (yet sufficient) machines, install your favorite flavor of Linux and use whatever money is left over for new books. The poetic justice in using Microsoft money to purchase Linux machines is of course the sweetest gravy and financially sound. Plus, to my knowledge, many school districts in California are using shamefully outdated references. Perhaps this could go some way to help fix that. Otherwise we might be stuck with more kids like my Floridian cousin, who at 16 years of age, on his life and given any number of tries, was completely incapable of spelling 'vacuum'. (Okay, how many of you just did a quick check at dictionary.com for that one, hmm?)
It goes from God, to Jerry, to me.
Besides, anti-trust is a bogus claim anyway. If MS owes me any money back on what they charged for Win98SE and WinME, it's not because the products were too expensive (they weren't), or because they forced my manufacturer to sell a copy of it (they were a mom&pop assembly shop) - it's because the stuff didn't fix the bugs I cared about.
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
I live in California and I got my settlement info several weeks ago. It says in there that the vouchers can be transferred no more than once to any business or individual. So you can give your vouchers to someone else if you like.
I seriously considering giving mine to Mandrake to help fund Linux development.
Just curious as to where you live. Eastern or Western North Carolina? They are both pretty much out there.
The preceding comment has been reviewed and declared to be compliant with HIPPA Phase II regulations.
Microsoft has a Certificate Authority?
Perhaps:
Californian Microsoft Settlement Claim Forms Hit Mailboxes
Does the recipient get to choose what goes on the donated machines, or does the installed software default as Microsoft? You don't punish a company by giving them market share, so if anyone would rather have the donation, they should opt to install a non Microsoft system on the voucher machine and donate that instead. Then Microsoft will actually feel that chunk of cash evaporating, otherwise it just comes right back to them...
You can exchange your vouchers for cash by submitting proof of purchases you made after July 18, 2003 of the following computer products: Any desktop, laptop, or tablet computer made by any manufacturer for any operating system platform, or any of the following devices: printers, scanners, monitors, keyboards, or pointing devices (e.g. mouse, trackball).
Sounds like this might stimulate the California economy for computer products. Good deal.
The settlement tries to punish MS by giving them even more marketshare? Why did they not hold out for real money?
I've now got a subscription to MSDN Universal, which gets me any Microsoft product in which I've got a remote interest. What the hell good does it do me to get a voucher for products I already get? These voucher settlements ought to be outlawed (or, alternatively, the plaintiff's lawyers ought to be paid in kind with whatever their 'clients' get paid. Let the shysters eat vouchers with the rest of us if they're so great.)
I got mine a month or more ago. It already lists software which you registered. It had me listed for 3 copies of Office standard, and 1 copy of Office Professional. Now, I've only bought one copy of Office Professional, and that was the academic version. I paid $150 for it and am getting $29 x 4 back. I'm not complaining :)
I've had my form for about three weeks now.
Everytime you look at porn a devil gets their horns.
I grew in poor-ass South Georgia and we had a bunch of Macs in our school. I guess they heard about the discount Apple gives to schools. I'm sorry your school administrators were a bunch of morons.
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They Are Vermin Feeding On Each Other's Feces.
I Hate \.
I think I will spend my vouchers on official CD sets of Slackware and FreeBSD
I bought quite a few MS products during the dark ages when I lived out-of-state. Originally, they weren't intended "for use in the state of California" but they ended up being used that way. The language of the settlement doesn't really state anything about intent. IANAL, and probably, YANAL, but does anyone have any idea if the products that I bought out of state qualify for the class now that I'm a California residents, and use them in-state? Vengeful minds want to know.
In any case, if you're like me and want to make sure that Microsoft pays 100% of the settlement rather than just 2/3, you might want to check the settlement notice. This part in particular may be of interest:
7. What if I'm not sure whether I'm included in the settlement?
If you are not sure whether you or your business is included in the Class, you may call the toll-free number 1-800-9605660 with questions. You may also write with questions to the lawyers appointed to represent the members of the class at Class Counsel, P.O. Box 2837, San Francisco, CA 94126-2837. DO NOT CALL THE COURT.
Even though it is true that they can buy non-MS based hardware and software with these vouchers, I am not pleased. I wanted to see MS show us the money. I would only have been pleased if MS had payed directly, and then the full value!
TRS-80.....those were the days. I learned to program on an 80!
[SIG] Remember Mattel handheld games?
Is this article about disabilities or software? Besides, software is a tool, not a social problem that needs to be dealt with because of some neurotic belief that if kids don't have it at age 2 they will be permanently disfigured or scarred. Jesus Christ, IT'S JUST SOFTWARE
[SIG] Remember Mattel handheld games?
I agree with you.
[SIG] Remember Mattel handheld games?
Note to you: Apples are usually donated to schools.
[SIG] Remember Mattel handheld games?
You're kidding right? Most late comers to computers learn through not understanding the concepts of a menu or dialog or etc but through memorization.
... always! Want to pay cash? F2 always!...
... ALWAYS!
Take where I work for instance, a postal outlet. We use NT4 for our terminals. I can bet dollars to donuts if a few buttons were moved and say a key map or two switched it would take weeks of retraining to get people back upto speed.
Want to weigh something? F3
Want to play "MS Money" Start -> Programs -> MSMoney
This is why I was arguing it's important to get used to thinking of how the interfaces are meant to be used. E.g. if I change "Start" to "Begin" in windows you shouldn't be lost. If I ask you to copy a file from a CD to your root that shouldn't involve a manual...
Tom
Someday, I'll have a real sig.
Western, bout halfway between asheville and charlotte.
If you can't see the value in jet powered ants you should turn in your nerd card. - Dunbal (464142)
If I ask you to copy a file from a CD to your root that shouldn't involve a manual.
Exactly. People should remember it in terms of locating the CD in the filesystem, then using a copy command to copy it to another location in the filesystem... but they don't. They memorize specifics like "double click on My Computer" that would not serve them on another platform.
RTFA? What is the pre-dominant operating system and office package that comes with most of the pre-packaged computer systems a'la Dell?
"If they wanted to".
Right, if they wanted to, but do you think a meager budgetted school with limited technical support is going to purchase and build their own computers? Do you think Microsoft is NOT going to throw some incentive into the fray if the schools decide to stick with a Microsoft product?
What exactly is "Linux Hardware"? Where can I buy it?
That wonderful that the article states what it states, but you are not thinking about the business case that relates to the article. That's how the real world works.
Sig it.
Really. I'm in Hickory (OK, Newton actually). You?
The preceding comment has been reviewed and declared to be compliant with HIPPA Phase II regulations.
Hometown (where i went to Highschool) is Spindale..go east on 40, south on 64 and you land right in the middle of the rutherfordton-spindale area
If you can't see the value in jet powered ants you should turn in your nerd card. - Dunbal (464142)
er, west on 40. oops.
If you can't see the value in jet powered ants you should turn in your nerd card. - Dunbal (464142)
So, er, you're saying that F2 and F3 don't work in Linux? There's nothing similar to a start menu in any of the GUI's for Linux either? Lemme get this straight... Where you work, the postal outlet, if someone replaced all the Windows machines with Linux, set up a nice program that used the same keys (this is for a register or something?), none of the current Windows users will be able to operate?
I think you completely missed the point of the parent while you tripped all over yourself to call him a troll. If you take someone who has used a point and click interface from Windows, the learning curve for a Linux GUI would be drastically reduced over someone who has never used anything more sophisticated than say, an electric typerwriter.
Regardless of you're proficency in a given GUI, smart GUI design, basic GUI tennents (menu bars, icons, etc.) and so on, make for a semi-familiar experience regardless of platform.
Get off the bandwagon and actually read a post. Not everybody who mentions Microsoft without substituting the 's' for a dollar sign or mangling the name is a troll.