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Microsoft Class Action Suit Outcome: Indifference
Ec|ipse writes points out that only about 7 percent of eligible Californians have decided to take Microsoft up on their settlement claims resulting from a class action suit in that state, writing "Microsoft contends that it's because the software giant is so popular with consumers." Eclipse excerpts from the press release on Yahoo! (from Settlement Recovery Center, a company that "helps businesses participate in class action settlements"): "With only two weeks remaining until the January 8 deadline, fewer than one million claims have been filed, out of some fourteen million eligible, for a share of the $1.1 billion fund arising out of the Microsoft class action settlement in California."
Does this mean the people who do bother to file get more money? Looks like they'll be getting about 1200 each at this point.
"I will trust Google to 'do no evil' until the founders no longer run it." Hello Alphabet.
Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy anyone?...
giving a few million people a few dollars isn't going to change the world, I think the 1.1 Billion dollars would have been better invested in open source software.
There is no god
I think this is probably the case not only because Microsoft is "popular" (read: has 90+% of the OS market), but also because Microsoft software (along with the bugs, security issues, and spyware/adware problems that come with it) is accepted by society because people aren't aware of the alternatives that are out there (Mac and Linux) and MS has enough money and political clout to keep these alternatives at bay.
Could it be that so "few" people have filed a claim because of the lack of publicity surrounding the case? I don't exactly see front-page articles in the Los Angeles Times saying to go pick up your money.
How am I supposed to fit a pithy, relevant quote into 120 characters?
What percentage of those eligible are aware of the suit? Of those, how many bother to file it? The claimed 7% seems pretty high as it is. Why bother to file this (spending the time to look for the required paper work, giving away information you may not want to share) only to get a few bucks? It's not worth it. Class action law suits are never worth anything unless you are the attorneys filing it. Those are the only ones making any money out of all this (and absurd amounts at that).
Did it ever occur to them that every time we try signing up for the class action lawsuit, when we hit submit iexplorer.exe gives us a general protection fault? That seven percent must be the Mozilla users.
"Microsoft contends that it's because the software giant is so popular with consumers. According to the settlement, two-thirds of the unclaimed proceeds will go to public schools around the state in the form of Microsoft software and vouchers. Microsoft will get to keep the remainder, which could amount to a reduced California payout of hundreds of millions of dollars."
This whole story is absurd, but this paragraph best highlights why Microsoft is where they are today.
Hint: It ain't by the quality of their products. It's by the quality of their PR and legal departments.
Why do you think stores offer "mail-in rebates"? Because NO ONE SENDS THEM IN. Or at least a substantially small number as to still be wildly profitable.
People like to think they're getting a good deal, but when it comes time to send in the paperwork, it doesn't happen.
Jerry
http://www.syslog.org/
Not that I'm a big consumer of Microsoft software in any case :-)
Bruce
Bruce Perens.
Well maybe they have a point. MS has done many good things in this industry, and this class action lawsuit was nothing more than sour grapes from open source folks.
Look, there is nothing that says you have to use Windows. Filing a class action lawsuit based on "vulnerabilities" in Microsoft's OS is quite silly really. MS is not responsible for the code they produce. I mean, when an exploit is released, who do the authorities go after? Microsoft or the hacker that released it?
This whole suit is simply ridiculous, and I can't say I'm surprised that most people are smart enough to find more constructive things to do with their time than bash yet another corporation.
I thought Microsoft was finally coming out with their Borg Action Suit!
Oh well...
Sure. Micro$oft does help the American economy and has aggressively stood up to Chinese thugs in Beijing when they demanded that Micro$oft censor links, on its search engine, to Tibet and human rights. I thank Micro$oft for its distinctly American approach to bashing Chinese thugs, but ... Micro$oft products just do not have the same value that they once had in the distant past, when OSS was not available.
Maybe more people wanted to but couldn't clear enough malware off their PCs to find out about it and register.
My state of Missouri decided to "get tough" with Nintendo's price fixing back in the late 1980's, I belive. I signed in for the class action suit and everything. Being young, I had the nievity to believe that this would change things. The state "won," and I got a certificate for $10 off my next game purchase. Wow, Missouri punished Nintendo with a game sale and state-wide advertisments.
The only think that Microsoft didn't manage to do in this case was tie the deal to new purchases; otherwise, it's Microsoft laughing, not rumbles from Mt. St. Helens over there.
Bel, the mostly sane.. "Of course I can't see anything! I'm standing on the shoulders of idiots." -- Me
Maybe the source of funds makes the proposition seem a little unsavoury.....
Or it could be that some people view accepting the settlement money implies that they endorse that settled state...rather than refusing the settlement, and pushing the court action.
it's the taking apart that counts
To fill out all the paperwork and just get a measly check. A better idea (except for those who upgraded to another OS) would be to cut prices by the settlement amount to californian consumers. But then again, there would be some problems coordinating how much of a discount to take.
Even easier... just give it all to charties.
In America we are imprisoned by our fear of them.
$1.1B / 1M people = $1,100 each. Now granted this is california money (CA = very high cost of living in LA, SF, Si Valley, etc), but still $1,000 could buy a new Athlon64 system.
The Doormat
If you're not outraged, then you're not paying attention.
Why is anyone suprised at this?..
Those who are computer savy either use linux or pirated windows.. those who are too dumb/ignorant most likely doesnt even know they can get their money back and the rest of them suffers from sunstroke..if ther's any left by now then that would be the mac users.
according the settlement website vouchers will be sent to the consumers who file claims. According to their FAQ, though, the amount of money you recieve depends on the Microsoft product you bought. Here is a list of the products and the amount you would recieve: $16 for each Microsoft Windows or MS-DOS license claimed; $29 for each Microsoft Office license claimed; $5 for each Microsoft Word, Home Essentials or Works Suite license claimed; and $26 for each Microsoft Excel license claimed. If you got these in large quantities, then this is quite a return!
Once again we see that lawyers are the only ones to benefit from a class action lawsuit. The answer is to eliminate class-action lawsuits and institute jail time for corporate executives. Yes, jail time. The price a corporation pays for the privilege of being given the rights of a human being should be jail time for being on the losing end of a civil action. Then, take their yearly salary, double it, and fine them personally. All officers of the corporation. Forbid the corporation from paying the officers' legal bills.
You'll see companies - and I mean all companies - clean up their acts real fast.
$16 for each Microsoft Windows or MS-DOS license claimed; $29 for each Microsoft Office license claimed; $5 for each Microsoft Word, Home Essentials or Works Suite license claimed; and $26 for each Microsoft Excel license claimed.
Micro$oft does not censor any results. I consistently prefer Micro$oft's search engine over Google's search engine.
Further, Micro$oft has no control over how Beijing uses Micro$oft products. For example, Beijing's intelligence agency types internal memos using Micro$oft Word; these memos direct its Taiwanese operatives to spy on American military installations. Is Micro$oft to blame for Beijing using Micro$oft Word. I think not.
By the way, are you Taiwanese?
Doesn't it seem like "exploiting customers by fraudulent means" should carry a heavier sentence than this?
Microsoft has smart lawyers, and California's lawyers apparently rolled over and played dead, after making a good show of pursuing the case after most others had dropped it.
But let's look at this...Microsoft's lawyers negotiated a settlement whereby:
1. claimants have to produce and file an old receipt for purchase of software. (dropoff percentage upward of 75%, for sure)
2. claimants receive a VOUCHER FOR FUTURE PURCHASES of computer stuff. (dropoff percentage at least 50%)
3. claimants have to send all that paperwork to a claim management company to get their real money (dropoff percentage at least 30% -- would be much higher, but any customer who is this far along can be presumed to be motivated...)
and lastly, the icing on the cake:
4. two-thirds of unclaimed funds are donated, by Microsoft, to California schools in the form of computer hardware and software. The software, of course, has zero incremental cost to Microsoft except in lost sales to CA schools, but even more importantly...there is no donation better spent than a donation to kids. Get them early, get them for life.
What ever happened to: "You screwed the plaintiffs over. Make full restitution now or go to jail."?
Microsoft should have to equally devide whatever is left from the fund amongst everyone who applied for their share.
-BMojo
Dear mods, please be sure to be PC. Don't let others say what we REALLY think of M$ as it might get you into trouble and upset too many people. Thank you.
I'm really starting ot wonder if Microsoft's comments about how great an popular their software is are actually lies to the public, or if they are just trying to convince themselves.
It's like some nerd saying "I don't get a lot of dates, but that's just because so few girls out there deserve me. I just need to find one that does."
I qualify under the settlement, but it wasn't satisfaction with Microsoft or simple indifference that made me not file for it. It's the settlement itself. What do I get from it? A paltry $5 off Word, for example, or $30 off the complete Office suite. That isn't even enough to offset the sales tax on those products. And I have to buy products from the same company being punished. They've abused their monopoly position, not to mention been the root cause of most of the virus headaches I have to deal with, and I should add to their profits? Why? If the settlement had involved MS having to give me a discount on competitor's products, I might've gone for it.
Californians can't be bothered. It's the same problem with car recalls... The car dealers recall them, but people never bring them back to be fixed. I hate to say it, but Californians are just plain lazy. They don't want to wait for something to be ready, it all has to be instantaneous (try explaining that in France cheese takes over a year to mature), and you have to be able to buy it with money. This is from southern california, I can't speak for the rest of the state, but this is what I've seen. And I'm not eligible because I moved in the state after the settlement. I hope this explains it plain and simple. People here do not like Microsoft, they just don't know of anything else, so they stick with it, like too many people. They hate it, but they're too lazy to find an alternative.
---- I am certain of only one thing : I know nothing else.
Did it ever occur to anyone that what this settlement offers is vouchers to purchase more M$ software.
Given that, did it ever occur to anyone that people who don't like M$ might not want more M$ software?
Given that, did it ever occur to anyone that a relatively few number of people taking advantage of a chance to get free M$ software might indicate a low demand for more M$ software.
Saying the response rate of this settlement is due to "popularity of M$ with consumers" is horribly bastardized logic.
Hint: It ain't by the quality of their products. It's by the quality of their PR and legal departments.
Certainly that's part of it, but, as a roving tech support person who talks to folks about new computer purchases, I can say that the MAIN reason that many folks stick with Windows is fear.
They are worried that they won't be able to open stuff they get from friends or work. They are worried they won't be able to buy a certain application or hardware device because their computer won't support it.
They know that there are MANY options. They know they don't need to, for instance, buy Office to exchange Word documents anymore. They know that even though one vendor may not make a printer that supports their computer, there are many others who do.
But they think about these things and get nervous. They think of the disappointment if Grandma can't open the baby videos. They think about the call from the boss about the font change after they just modified a Word document. They don't actually KNOW these things will occur, but they don't dare risk it.
You can call these folks "stupid" or "ignorant," but this is what they think, and they're making buying decisions based on it.
If Nalgene water bottles are outlawed, only outlaws will have Nalgene water bottles.
Unfortunately, it is all in the form of vouchers. (I can't take credit for this, it was pointed out by someone else, earlier.) So, for a single Windows/Office install, someone would get vouchers good toward a minor portion of the next purchase of Microsoft Products.
What is interesting is the effect of the vouchers on the profitability of Microsoft. Two cases are possible when someone is going to use a voucher -
Case 1: Someone uses the voucher to purchase software that they originally would not have purchased: Since fix costs have already been covered and variable costs are so small, the additional purchase results in profit for Microsoft.
Case 2: Someone uses the voucher to purchase software that they were going to purchase, anyway: Since the amount of the voucher is less than the gross margin on the software, Microsoft profits from the purchase, just not as much as they would have if the voucher was not used.
In both cases, Microsoft profits as far as I can see. If more than enough people are in the Case 1 group to offset the reduced revenue due to those in the Case 2 group, it would result in an increase in Microsoft's net profit. Wow, what a way to punish them.
Of course, I could be mistaken about Microsoft's variable costs. It could be that the costs of media, packaging, and distribution are high enough that the discount from the voucher results in a net loss to the bottom line. I seriously doubt it, though.
So I actually sent mine in a full year and a half ago and haven't gotten anything back yet. What's up with that?
I think that too many Californians, (and probably too many Americans for that matter) can't be bothered to do anything on principal, alone. The $16, $29 or whatever pitance you'd get back, simply isn't worth the hassle. Finding, retrieving, and filling out the forms. Then, putting all the licensing info together seems like SUCH a burden, for the amount of money that we blow on a week's worth of Starbucks. Why do so many of us in America not care enough to devote a small chunk of our time to send a message about what is truly right and wrong? M$ has made it just enough of a pain in the ass that we won't bother. Looks like ol' Bill and Co. are getting as good at damage control as the government. Baaaaaaa! mOOOOOOOO!
I live in Arizona, and one day in the mail I got a letter with various information about a class action law suit against Microsoft. I don't know how this law place got my address, nor how they managed to come up with a fake business name for me (EnvisionNET?), but the letter was there. Included were various forms to make a claim, and I was thinking about doing it, then I came across the money part. I can't find my claim forms right now, but I took this off of the website:
"A voucher for $9.00 for each license of Office, Word and Excel (specified in Appendix A-1 of the Settlement Agreement).
A voucher for $15.00 for each license of Windows, Windows for Workgroups, Windows NT Workstation and MS-DOS (specified in Appendix A-2 of the Settlement Agreement)."
I mean, not to sound cheap, but $15 isn't enough to make me run out and file this. Not to mention that Word/Excel/etc usually cost more than Windows, yet the voucher is for less.
Given what those who file claims get. Whoooo you get vouchers for hardware and supprise supprise MS Software! It's not even fucking money! Just free shit I get whenever I goto conventions and more work!!! I'll just pirate every last piece of MS software that comes out and we'll call it even.
Too bad the money goes back to Microsoft. What a flawed system we have, it should go to some charity or something, not into Microsoft's blackhole pockets.
They're afraid of admitting the purchase.
This just shows something most geeks are too naive to realize: There exists a huge gap between how geeks see MS and how Everyone Else(TM) sees MS. Call it the "Microsoft Gap".
Had the 14 million people eligible to take a small slice of Microsoft's money all been geeks, I'd say at least 10 million would have claimed the money-- not because they needed it, but simply to hurt, and spite, MS. It would have been a little "death of a thousand cuts" for MS. Instead, we got a lackluster 1 million claiming their slice of the pie. Actually, it's a miracle that even that many people signed on.
Most geeks are too naive to realize just how popular Microsoft really is among the general populace.
To most geeks, Bill Gates is a wily scuzzbag who happened to be in the right place at the right time, applied his incredible business acumen, and now is in a position where his company can milk the general populace for a significant percentage of the cost of a new computer every single time they buy one. He's a robber baron who takes other companies'/peoples' good ideas, bastardizes them, and makes money on them, leaving the original creators to go bankrupt (at worst) or carve out tiny niche markets (at best). Or he just buys them out.
However, to non-geeks (reminder: this covers 99+% of the US population), Bill Gates is a hero and a role model. He is someone that they aspire to be like, due to his incredible wealth and business acumen. The general Party Line among the unwashed masses seems to be "Well, Windows is what everyone runs, so it must be the best." This is rather akin to "every keyboard uses QWERTY, so QWERTY must be better than all other layouts" (e.g. Dvorak). It's also akin to "VHS beat out Beta, so VHS must be better in all ways." Nevertheless, this is how most people in the US feel on the matter.
Until geeks understand how non-geeks think, no progress will be made in educating the public.
Honey, I shrunk the Cygwin
So why should I sign up so some lawyers can get$$$$$$$$$$ from MS.Perhaps more Americans are refusing to participate in the legal extortion racket Tort law has become.Perhaps that is partially the reason a clear Majority voted for a Presidential candidate who promised to clean it up.
My beef is that monetary penalties against MSFT just aren't worth it. It's like fining you or me 10cents every time we speed. Big Deal.
.00001% of the population that happens to have this coupon. The customer is *still* giving MSFT money out of their pocket.
Even forcing MSFT to make a version of windows without media player is a joke. Many people are used to using media player, and so many companies have created products counting on the fact that a user will have media player. Big Deal.
What are users going to get out of this? $10 off their next purchase of MSFT software. So now MSFT makes a slightly smaller margin on their software for
The gov't needs to start thinking outside the box, monetary, software reconfigs aren't going to fix it. They need to deal with MSFT like they did with the coal and railroad barons of the early 1900s and with AT&T. The gov't is always trying to put the "djini back into the bottle." We all know its easier to do wrong and beg for foregiveness than it is to ask for permission....
I had a house with bad siding. That class action settlement had to have an inspection and lots of other stupid crap. Had to reschedule the inspection three times. The siding didn't look that bad and finally all the process just wore me down. Who has infinite time to pursue a petty settlement?
Class action suits are a ripoff for everyone but the lawyers. Consumers don't get jack and probably end up paying the tab with higher prices. By the time they wind their way through the ponderous court process most people aren't even using the products anymore.
For most companies it's easier just to count them as the cost of doing business. By the time they have to pay anything and negotiate the amount down to some petty dollar figure and make the conditions so difficult hardly anyone files it's chump change compared to what they made by criminal behavior.
I'm not sure what the solution is but this ain't it.
That's our life, the big wheel of shit. - The Fat Man, Blue Tango Salvage
This class-action payout assumes you have all your CD-Keys from Windows and Office versions. I trashed those on the first day after I got 'em.
So no $50 or whatever amount for me.
Just out of curiosity, I tried to fill out the claim form (wow, $5 off Excel. The gov't really stuck it to them... :p) and couldn't get it to give me the form. Filled out my name, clicked "Create Form"... clicked "Get Form"... took me back to where I had to fill out my name.
Perhaps the web site is not Mozilla compatible. Which is just ironic on a number of levels.
It's hard to not be indifferent, when the company involved is so obscure.
You also release them from further lawsuits if you file. And as much as Microsoft owes me big time for that copy of Windows ME I bought in 2000, the form and hoops you have to go through are way over the top. (The RIAA one let you do everything online).
I'm in California. I can't be bothered to go figure out what I'm owed. By the time I get through the hassle of doing hundreds of dollars worth of labour (my time is worth hundreds/hour), I'll end up with, as the site says, a voucher for cash back after I buy certain eligible computer products.
With all due respect, who gives a flying f--k?
I didn't run down to the library to check out one of 1,000 copies of ABBA's first album after the RIAA got slapped down. I'm not going to bother with this either.
Microsoft can crow what it wants. I've already exacted my revenge on them. I work at a company with a very large datacentre, and we have TWO, count 'em, TWO Microsoft-based computers there. Both simply run software to control high-end proprietary hardware. Everything that actually does work is Linux. Microsoft can kiss my a--.
fifth sigma, inc.
The notice I recieved didn't offer cash. It seemed to be offering MS software at reduced prices:
..." - empahsis added.
"... People and businesses that are covered by the settlement can get vouchers that may be redeemed for cash after buying eligible computer products.
You'ld think that MS would be able to look at it's registered users database and simply know who is elegible. After all, some of us who build our own systems have been paying the old MS tax for years, and dutifully registered everything in the faint hope that MS support just might be able to help some time.
I would just as soon the state collected the settlement and reduced taxes a little.
------ The only greater hazard to your liberty than n politicians is n+1 politicians.
Hmm... interesting. I've always thought it would create an amusing (from my prole point of view) world if we directly tied a CEOs wage to the level of "social conscience" his or her company exhibits. If your company pollutes, you (as the CEO) lose money. If you defraud shareholders, you don't get paid. For extreme cases, throw them in jail.
At the very least, we'd finally get some reasonable reform in our prison system (given the upper crust whitebread infusion).
Just like driving a car:
(D) to go forward
(R) to go backward
In our small company's case, it just did not make economic sense to file this.
MS Windows OS licenses: 5 x $16 rebate = $80
MS Office Suite licenses: 1 x $29 rebate = $29
BSA raid on our company: 1 x -$10,000 fine = -$10,000
Total: -$9,891
I'm guessing there are a lot of other people and companies that this did not make economic sense for either.
The proper word is "conservative". Microsoft has made billions playing upon people's natural conservatism when it comes to things they just don't understand. It applies to all things technological, and is really an extension of the "if it ain't broke don't fix it" mentality. Granted, Windows and IE are broken by default, but there's not sufficient public awareness of this (or of the true costs of maintaining the status quo) for people to take the chance on anything new or different. Most of the things that make Windows and Internet Explorer dangerous are simply not readily apparent (other than the occasional system crash) so people don't see any reason to experiment. Put it this way, you have a computer, it works, you have no clue how to fix it if it breaks or even how to reinstall the operating system. If you're smart, you don't fiddle with it, particularly if you depend upon it for anything important. And given the historical instability of the Windows environment, that's just good practice. So it's not fair to jump on people for not adopting something "better" when the risks are, from their point of view, unacceptable.
... not worth the risk, unless I knew enough about cars to fix it in case the "upgrade" screwed anything up.
Computers are, for many people, arguably almost as important as their cars. Maybe more: if your car breaks down you can rent a new one 'til you get yours serviced, but if your computer fails and you lose all your data you can be in real trouble. Besides, if someone came along and said, "Hey, I can upgrade your car's drive train with this new super-duper Firefox plug-in turbo module that will make your car go faster, get better mileage and not crash as often and best of all it's FREE!" would YOU let him open your hood? I wouldn't
The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
At my local (California) community college, one Monday in mid-December, four young men stood outside the cafeteria. They were trying to get people to sign a petition "to help breast cancer research". They were being a little abrasive; people who ignored them were assailed with loud comments like, "Oh, I guess you don't care about breast cancer."
I walked up to them and asked what their petition was about. The "leader" explained that only 1% of people had claimed their refunds from Microsoft's antitrust settlement. He said that he and his companions were working for the antitrust lawyers, who would be paid on the basis of how many people actually collected this settlement money. If I signed certain paperwork, the $100 I was "entitled" to would go to breast cancer research, and I would get a tax deductible donation. "So have you bought any Microsoft products in the past?" he asked.
"No."
"Does your computer have any Microsoft stuff on it?"
"No," I replied. "I use Linux."
"Ohh, Lanux," he replied knowingly. He tried again: "Have you even used anything from Microsoft?" He reminded me I didn't need documentation.
At that moment, a middle-aged woman walked briskly up to the table. "I do NOT appreciate what you said to my daughter!" she said.
"What?"
"She couldn't sign your petition--because she's only 16. And you said, 'Bad karma, I hope you get breast cancer'!"
I left the table and walked over to a young woman standing a few yards away. "Did they actually say that?!" I asked.
"Yes," she said, tears in her eyes. "I can't sign that, because I'm not old enough. And they said, 'Bad karma, I hope you get breast cancer.'"
"That's terrible," I said. Her mom came back to us, snapped, "Let's go," and they did.
I left for class. As I did, I heard a young-ish female student trying to score points with the petitioning males: in a catty, loud voice, she remarked, "Gosh, some people are soooo easily offended."
If aspiration is a virtue, achievement cannot be a vice.
This settlement is a joke, and it is no wonder why most people aren't bothering. As far as I can discern, in exchange for making a claim, I get a $15 voucher towards MS software.
So instead of $299.99, that copy of Windows XP Pro is $284.99 for Joe Consumer. Also as pennance, they give free copies of Windows and Office to schools (and probably somehow get a tax write off).
Lawyers get rich(er) and Microsoft strengthens their monopoly as a result.
"You spoony bard!" -Tellah
Microsoft has be fighting tooth and nail for years to finish off apple in the Educational market. This is brilliant. They take their fine, pay it in software whose value has been bloated by the monopoly ($100 dollars for a wordprocessor, wtf?), and get thosands (millions?) of schools teaching the next gen of lusers to use Microsoft, and only Microsoft (yeah, they can apply all those 'computer skills' to a Mac, but most are too lazy, Believe it or not). It's amazing how Microsoft has turned every aspect of this trial to their advantage. I'd be sickened if it wasn't so impressive...
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
From the site: People and businesses that are covered by the settlement can get vouchers that may be redeemed for cash after buying eligible computer products.
Yeah, that's right. You can get up to $100 in REBATES. You will not end up with a net gain of $100, you will just get $100 off some crap that you probably wouldn't have bought had you not been given some stupid voucher and felt the need to use it.
Kudos to Microsoft for fooling the courts into such a meaningless penalty.
The public sees this suit as a shakedown that'll benefit lawyers. The suit never made sense. How can someone claim they were over charged for Windows when the vast majority got Windows with their PCs, and the OEM price for Windows is about $50, which is cheaper than other commercial OSes? That's why this suit was thrown out of court in most states. It wasn't thrown out in CA because CA has some left-wing law that would allow for an individual to claim to have been overcharged on the OEM version of Windows. Even then, the case had no merit, but Microsoft only settled to be done with it.
I choose not to file any claim since I don't support the suit in the first place, nor does 99% of the public at large.
Not only does it crash some versions of explorer, but all the version of mozilla, firefox, konqueror, elinks, and lynx that I've tried fail to see the pdf link at all.
Nothing like an organization created to punish microsoft for monopolistic business practices that forces claimants to use a recent version of microsoft software to download their claim forms.
On a side note - here's an example of super nifty web design at its absolute worst. Instead of just making a plain old html page with links to a plain old pdf file, they've gone scripto-nutso and spent days designed a sophisticated document delivery system that fails at the single most basic task for which html was designed. Their web design team ought to be taken out in the woods and beaten to death with a stack of javascript manuals.
I don't have all the documentation they require but what if I sent in all the unused OS disks I have? I've kept most of them and most are useless at this point. I realize the downside is poving that you bought them in California but your registration should prove that. Most aren't going to go to the trouble of digging through old receipts let alone give up their originals for $15. My original version of Word is on 5 1/4. I'd love to give them that back.
Its money back for having purchased a Microsoft product that was sold for more than it was worth. Anyone "bright" enough to buy anything from Microsoft in the first place is hardly going to
a) Know about the rebate
b) Know what a rebate is
c) Be able to fill out any sort of form...
Or... maybe it is more sinister?
"Hey! It looks like you're trying to write a letter to get a rebate from Microsoft...." Strange. Clippy never used to have such an evil grin.... did he?
Actually, I filed, and I haven't heard anything since, except that I received another form requesting filing for the exact license, even stating that it will become void if I ever re-file again! So I didn't, hoping that they haven't "forgotten" my first filing request.
I wonder if there were a lot of people in the same situation who got the second form, filed it again without checking, only to be made void by that little statement.
Be very careful!
I honestly can't claim I've been ripped off by MS. I've never paid a MS tax since I build all my own boxes. I do run MS OSes (gotta have my games) but I think the last time I paid retail for it was when MS-DOS 6.22 came out. Most everything else has been gray market, which to an extent means I've benefitted from someone else having paid the MS tax. And that's even if the settlement was worthwhile, and I'm not certain it is.
And the brethren went away edified.
So. Cal resident here. Auto recall? Free repair of potentially life threatening issue? I'm there. I've done it. Microsoft class action suit? I received maybe a dozen letters between home and work. Tossed 'em all. I'm not going to try and find old receipts in order to get a rebate/discount on future purchases. I'd rather punish Microsoft with bad word of mouth and my advocacy and support for ways to get things done without troubling Microsoft for so much as the time of day. By the way, if Microsoft thinks their customers love them, then their exit polling is underperforming the Ohio Election Day surveys.
I'd like to see the money go towards building a catapult designed to hurl week-old chicken guts into their main conference room.
They say the first thing to go is your penis. Well, it's either that or your brain. I forget which...
Read Section E of the rebate form.
So how does that percentage compare to other class action lawsuits? For all I know, that is a high percentage of members of the class.
I am, and always will be, an idiot. Karma: Coma (mostly effected by
Anyone "bright" enough to buy anything from Microsoft in the first place is hardly going to...
c) Be able to fill out any sort of form...
Well, I have a degree in Physics and am currently employed as a Senior Programmer, and I bought the copy of XP Pro that's running on the machine I'm using right now, but you're probably right, it's a wonder I manage to walk, talk and breathe at the same time.
Arrogant condescending twat.
It's official. Most of you are morons.
I looked into the settlement, but it required way too much personal information to get involved. they wanted my SS#, my Drivers License Nr, and a whole bunch of other stuff. Seems you would have to just bare your bottom for them for a couple of bucks. No thanks.
"only about 7 percent of eligible Californians have decided to take Microsoft up on their settlement claims" Probably because only 7% of Californians actually have legitimate licenses for their Microsoft software. :)
The way to make class-action suits work is to make it something of a lottery. Rather than dividing the take so that each class member wins a $1.50 or some such, make it so that a number of them are randomly chosen to win $5,000, equal to the total award amount. That would actually help some people (as opposed to helping nobody) and given the popularity of state lotteries I suspect indifference would become a thing of the past.
The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
I filed out a web form to get a printable claim form, and it just takes me to the page telling me that I can get a claim form!
"Micro$oft has no control over how Beijing uses Micro$oft products."
Fair enough, Microsoft can't control what Beijing does. But if Microsoft is supplying Beijing with software, knowing full well that Beijing will use this software to further their human rights abuses, can Microsoft truly say that they bear no responsibility?
Santa's suicide mission go!
I started to fill out the forms. My responsibility to participate & all that, but when I saw the amount of required personal information, I was done. I realize that this is routine for a class action settlement, but I'd never trust MS with this information because they aren't trustworthy.
Look at what these people will do to ensure that they don't lose (I think forging evidence to present to a judge is pretty damned scary.) I would bet a tidy sum that all this personal data won't just be filed & forgotten. Perhaps a small army of private investigators can make some kind of profitable use of this data.
Claimed your windows rebates? You could be a candidate for an extended series of personal salescalls, (the kind that include your boss's bosses or clients) or maybe there's a list of consultants that they "cannot recommend." Simple to just pass it on to their strong-arm organization the BSA. Ready for an audit?
Although I exaggerate, one thing is certain: MS does not have more respect for me than for the law or federal judges. Thus, I will not do business with them.
Finally, and more generally: Who would _choose_ to enter into a contract with an entity that is both hostile & tremendously powerful? A friend with his own business refuses to take orders from government entities for similar reasons.
Ever heard of what it's like to do business with Wal-Mart, or better, what happens to a restaurant that becomes a hangout for mobsters? The owners think that the mob will take care of them, but it's cheaper to just drive them out of business & then find another place to go eat free.
Assembly is the reverse of disassembly.
I received several forms from the settlement and added a few extra licenses I have lying around to the mix. For a total of $150 in vouchers.
This was last April. After mailing them in, I haven't heard a peep from them. I'm pretty much guessing I never will either.
I tried every decent and legal way I could think of to resolve the issue w/the business before I rented the chicken suit
... is that most of the people who are even aware of this class action lawsuit are thinking ``Oh, great! Just what I need: a check for $50 or voucher from Microsoft for some more of their buggy software''. At that point they decide that the suit isn't worth the effort to track down the receipt for the PC/software and, from there on, their brain's ``waste of my time'' filter kicks in whenever it's mentioned.
Now if it turned out that you'd get a full refund of the retail price of your MS software plus, oh, $100-$200 for every time your PC had to be rebuilt from scratch due to the swiss cheese nature of their OS/application security, then it starts becoming worthwhile to join in on the suit.
CUR ALLOC 20195.....5804M
I know this will probably get me branded as "evil,corp whore,etc"But microsoft is a huge success for one VERY good reason-They know that a LARGE part of our population is to busy or TOO STUPID to actually learn how the magic white box actually works and caters to them.I help out at the local pc shop and dealing with customers you don't know how many times i have watched their eyes glaze over and get that confused monkey look when i try to explain how to do anything that the user has to do more than "clicky,clicky" to make it work.I set up a box with mozilla,outpost firewall and avg just so i could show them that i could make their box a lot safer without them needing to do more than "clicky,clicky".I put that in quotes because i hear that AT LEAST 20 times a day."Can't i just go clicky,clicky and it'll work?"Time and again i've set up windows boxes to be safer only to have it brought back a week or two later FILLED with spy and adware.Why?"But they said i'd get free (insert pr0n,games,stuff here).Blaming microsoft for all the virii on folks machines would be like blaming a hammer manufacturer if they used it to beat themselves senseless.(And PEASE,don't give me the linux is just as good crap.While i've been able to run it-with a LOT of effort to set it up-Since i let my family come over and use my sat high speed hook up i got tired of going to bed at 5am and having to get up at 7am because sis couldn't "clicky,clicky" and get something to work.I personally have been running my 2k box since 2k came out and NO VIRII,NO SPYWARE,NO PROBLEMS.Why?No one can install programs but me,have avg auto check all emails and load the new defs daily,and NEVER let my box on the net without a firewall.You can't blame microsoft because people are MORONS and think they can get free stuff just by "clicky,clicky".If you folks want someone to HATE,hate the cable and phone companies.I had to get a sat setup and pay $100 a month for the privilege of a lousy 150 meg download limit even though i can see both the cable junction and dsl substation outside my front window because they can't be bothered to run it the whole BLOCK AN A HALF to my house.At leastwith microsoft ther is alternatives(linux,freebsd,gentoo,etc)With broadband if the phone and cable companies don't deem you "worthy"of their service it's hello crappy 14k dialup or expensive fapped to the 12th power satlink.Now if murdoch has his way(may he rot in the pits of capitalist hell)there won't even be dway so my choices will be 14k dialup,NOTHING AT ALL,or abandon my beautiful paid for home because the broadband monopolies don't deem me "worthy" of their time.Compared to those evil hose monkey b@stards,bill gates is a small fluffy bunny.
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
I also have a dgree in Physics and have to hold my breath when I walk. It is of course impossible to talk and breathe at the same time. :-)
Laissez lire, et laissez danser; ces deux amusements ne feront jamais de mal au monde. - Voltaire
hehe. from riverside and posting with a yahoo.fr acct. he's so confused!@!
Of course you can. You breathe out as you speak. You breathe in during the natural breaks in your words.
This is why people can give speeches, sing, and play wind instruments without turning blue and collapsing.
Though now I re-read your post and wonder if it's sarcasm...
This idea was invented by Shampoo.
Well I couldn't find evidence saying either way that MSN search was filtered in China, or MS refused to censor MSN search in China, but they do censor their new blogging service in China.
Besides I think the original poster is just the phrusu AC troll/spammer - in pretty much every article an AC replies with a comment related to China/tibet and posts the same link (even when the link in question has nothing to do with what he referred to it in).
I'm not. In case you hadn't bothered to read my comment completely I said I moved to california only recently. And I kept my email. Is that such a problem? Besides, I'm in Ventura county.
---- I am certain of only one thing : I know nothing else.
Why I declined to participate: The anti-trust lawsuit purports that Microsoft did something wrong by becoming big and successful at selling people software and was so mean and nasty and twisted everybody's arms and that they ought to be spanked for doing so. That's a bogus ripoff of Microsoft. They were allegedly especially mean and nasty because they gave away Internet Exploiter for FREE, interfering with the sales of those nice friendly Netscape people who used to give us Netscape for free, and that people wouldn't install Netscape instead of using the pre-installed IE, in spite of the fact that we used to happily install Netscape. (Do *you* use IE? No? Then don't complain. Or, if yes, then don't complain.) Anti-trust suits are almost always a combination of appeals to blatant greed and a tool for some companies to use government to attack their bigger competition (though often it's a bad way to balance out help that the government has been giving the bigger competition), and this was no exception. If the State of California thinks for some reason that Microsoft ought to be spanked, they know where to buy Macintoshes or Linux or {Free/Net/Open/etc.}BSD, and the BSD source code even has lots of acknowledgements about University of California copyrights that they can feel proud of.
Sure, Microsoft operating systems cost too much and the quality is too low. It's not like they fooled me by selling me the stuff - the price tag was on the box and it said "Microsoft" in big friendly letters, so I pretty much knew what the quality was going to be like. (The one exception was that I bought a Win98SE upgrade edition specifically because Internet Connection Sharing was supposed to let me actually share my Internet connection, and it was way too broken to actually do that, but umm, mumble, that just means that I didn't feel any guilt about installing it on a couple of Win95 machines, so I think we probably broke even on that one...) Did I feel annoyed about having to buy WinXP to install on my mother-in-law's machine because she'd lost the original Win98 installation disk and "helpful" backup software that Compaq had added had left the machine too hosed to successfully clean up after we'd removed all the random spyware and IE browser extensions and invasive popup things that had accumulated in the year since we'd last cleaned it up? Yup. Bought it anyway, installed it and installed a new copy of AOL, and she's back to happily IMing with her friends and forwarding cutesy little greeting cards, and at least the Compaq stuff is gone :-) Did I feel annoyed about having to buy XP for my home Windows machine because my Windows ME CD wasn't bootable any more? Yes, but Fry's lets you buy the OEM version cheap if you're buying computer hardware, like the $5 fan with blinky-lights, and I didn't feel all that bad about not running WinME any more... And you can think of the price of the operating system as really being part of the price of TurboTax, because that's what I really use Windows for.
So while I don't particularly like most of Microsoft's products, I don't think the State has any business telling me that I was stupid for buying them and deserve my money back, because there was no dishonesty involved. (Y'all can tell me I was stupid for buying them, but you won't be telling me anything new, and The State of California Anti-Trust Lawyers Are Known To Be Harmful To Software Businesses.)
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
'Twas a joke sir. Relax.
I wouldn't call it "fooling"...bribery's more like it.
there reciepts or other proofs of purchase.
the lawyers and the schools get the money if the claims are too low. And probably Microsoft gets to keep some money.
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