Microsoft Settles Iowa Antitrust Case

ForestRangerBob writes "Comes v. Microsoft is over after Microsoft agreed to a settlement. The class action lawsuit alleged that Iowa consumers had been overcharged for Microsoft products for a decade owing to Microsoft's monopoly of the market. Predictably, the lawyers are about to get a big payday and 'the software giant will certainly be on the hook for millions of dollars, some of which may end up helping Iowa school kids. Average consumers will probably end up with a few bucks or a coupon for a free operating system upgrade, but the real winners will no doubt be the lawyers — the team prosecuting the case has already earned $60 million in legal fees from a 2004 case in Minnesota that charged Microsoft with similar offenses.'"

Comments

documents on iowaconsumercase.org gone

[whoever57]

When I first tried to read the comments, I got /.'s familiar "nothing to see here..." message, which also describes the site that hosted the documents from the Iowa case. Going to the site hosting the documents now results in a login request.

You're kidding, right?

[Dunbal]

Average consumers will probably end up with a few bucks or a coupon for a free operating system upgrade

      No, that's worth WAAAAAY too much. The consumers will get a free Microsft Vista (tm) mousepad.

Re:You're kidding, right?

[schwaang]

Average consumers won't even hear about this. Just like in the California settlement, I don't know anyone who actually filed. Two people I know started the process and were intimidated by the paperwork because they didn't have receipts for computers they bought years before and were afraid of being audited. (They both had legitimately purchased copies of eligible MS products.)

Hopefully the money that doesn't go to the lawyers will at least go to schools or something.

The system works!

[Iphtashu Fitz]

Not...

Almost makes me wish I was a lawyer. Almost.

wow

[Billly Gates]

A coupon so Microsoft can increase sales of more copies of windows.

Boy, that sure showed Microsoft.

Payoff to the Lawyers

[ATestR]

To be fair, the lawyers should have to take their cut in coupons for Microsoft products, just like everyone else will.

Re:Bet the states are licking their chops now

[truthsearch]

But... but... it's the ultimate. No price is too high!

Class action lawsuits: welfare for lawyers

[mschuyler]

Class action lawsuits are one of the most mis-used legal tactics in the country. Look at ANY class action lawsuit against ANY company. The 'remedy' afforded to consumers is on the same level as a few bucks in rebates: Most people don't bother with jumping through the hoops (and be sure and include the SKU from the inner flap of the outer box you just threw away and a certified copy of your birth certificate) and the companies know this. They don't amount to anything anyway. It's just an accountng trick. But the lawyers, oh, my goodness. Millions of dollars to the law firms for "all their hard work." What a crock. The kids of Iowa will see nothing tangible. /rant

Re:Class action lawsuits: welfare for lawyers

[gumbi west]

Here's the thing. Our market uses a capitalist market structure, so the firms that make the most money beat the other firms. Put another way, if there is a way to make more money, the contentious executive who is thinking of his shareholders will make the money (most MBA graduates say that the maximizing shareholder value is the primary focus of an employee).

In light of this, when someone does something counter competitive, just taking money away from them helps quite a bit. Now we can argue about where it should go, but this is better than the other options (leaving the money with the company that swindled the consumer). Put another way, if one company starts to swindle and nothing happens, all competitors will either start to do the same or go out of business. Class action lawsuits provide some protection against that and are an overall boon for the consumer in net, if not in effect per lawsuit.

Re:Class action lawsuits: welfare for lawyers

[c0d3h4x0r]

Just because something hasn't been reported on slashdot doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

Well, shit. There goes my proof for the non-existence of God.

Justice? There is only one kind of justice....

[zappepcs]

that is when the people who are dissatisfied with MS and how the courts fail to create fair business practices from them all switch to Linux or Apple.... THAT would be justice

Real winners are Microsoft

[RyoShin]

but the real winners will no doubt be the lawyers

Of course, but here Microsoft wins, too. The article doesn't say how the exact payment would be (the article says just "millions of dollars"), but we'll be conservative and say that Microsoft will have to pay out at least 50 million (if it were 100 million, they probably would have said "hundreds of millions"). A quick Google search says that their revenue is around 10 billion. That means they have to pay a half of a percent of their annual revenue. Looking at it another way, it will take them less than a week to recoup that.

This is only a bit more of a punishment than the fine from the EU of a couple ten thousand dollars a day.

And what else do they have to give out? More Microsoft products! Either a voucher, or software for schools. And from that comes support contracts, future upgrades, additional add-ons, all which will cost the schools and/or users additional money.

Why do courts and defendants even allow this? If I cut myself with a razor because it was used shoddy construction and a blade wasn't secured properly, and sue the company, why would I want another razor from them? I may get the razor free, but I still wind up having to buy blades for it later.

Granted, they aren't saying they don't want Windows, just that they were overcharged, but this still seems ludicrous.

The obvious next step

[frovingslosh]

So when do we start the law suits against the lawyers who screw the average guy by filing lawsuits on their behalf and then making all the profits and getting us coupons? Seems like a lawsuit that the jury couldn't help but award to us.

Re:Makes You Wonder

[ChrisA90278]

I've been running for president under the "common sense" party for years. I can solve ALL problems with simple common sense. For example crime: As you say, it is better to PREVENT the crime. So simple common sense says to put people in jail BEFORE they commit the crime. Gosh how easy was that! I'm for the death penalty too. We should execute people before they can murder someone. Prevention, that's the way to go.

I have other common sense solutions to all the other problems too.

Re:Let's sue on behalf of Linux

[dadragon]

Did you try Google? http://www.linuxprinting.org/show_printer.cgi?recn um=Okidata-C5300

It's a postscript printer, you shouldn't need drivers. You do need a custom PPD file, though: http://europe.oki.com/fcgi-bin/public.fcgi?pid=6&c id=135&chid=10&pdflag=&prid=407&OSId=5&languageId= 1

Both of those came from the printer's page on linux-printing.

Re:Laywers are the winners

[nomadic]

We (the USA) needs to scrap legal jargon and rewrite the laws plainly, then let a judge decide if the law applies to an act and let the jury decide if they're guilty.

The more plain they are, the more ambiguous. Give me an example of what you would consider a "plainly written" law, and I guarantee I will find ambiguity or loopholes in it.

Laws are structured for precision.

Re:Stop and think for one second...

[suckmysav]

This would be a valid point were it not for the fact that Microsoft uses its vast market power to exclude alternatives from being visible at the point of sale. By ensuring that the likes of Dell, HP/Compaq, IBM, Acer and Gateway don't offer alternative OS choices through threats of massive price hikes via their OEM contracts they make it virtually impossible for someone to purchase a brand name PC without purchasing Windows with it.

Have you ever tried buying a PC without Windows? There are only two ways to do it. Buy a whitebox from a small retailer or stumble upon the occasional PC with pre-loaded linux that is usullay hidden deep in the bowels of the websites of online retailers such as Dell and HP.

In the first case a lot of people are hesitant to buy non brand name PC's because they incorrectly assume that they will get better quality if they choose a brand they "know" (read: have heard of).

In the second case it is usually impossible to find any PC loaded with linux just by connecting to a retailers main page and just clicking. You usually have to already know that they offer a Linux PC and then have enough ability to search and find it on the site. Often you can't even find it using the search tools on the site and you have to do a site: search in Google, which most people don't even know you can do.

You can't just go pick a PC and then choose between Windows and Linux, which is how it would work were there a level playing field.

This is why people are always "bashing on Microsoft". If they had faith in their own product then they would have no problem with competing fairly against Linux.

Clearly they don't have faith in their products, so why should we?