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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>.
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<a href="http://msfreepc.com/">MSFreePC.com</a>
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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.
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.
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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
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___
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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.
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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...
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.
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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.
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.
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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. :)
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.
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?".
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