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Details of Microsoft's Settlement With Iowa
dringess writes "As reported on Yahoo, Microsoft has settled the suit brought by the State of Iowa. Individuals can collect $16 for each copy of MS-DOS or Windows purchased from 1994-2006, while Office nets $29. No proof of purchase required! Now I can finally get some money from Microsoft!" Here is our original coverage of the settlement.
Afford a PS3... Oh, you said "Purchased", nevermind.
If you could reason with religious people, there would be no religious people
No proof of purchase required! Now I can finally get some money from Microsoft! I'm going to Iowa just so I can get this cash from M$.
Iowa will provide Microsoft with 1 million ears of corn per year for the next 10 years.
In soviet Iowa you monopolize Microsoft.
Iowan here. Anyone know the website to file online?
I can prove that I bought a copy of Windows 98! My registration key is
FCKGW....
I have no problem with your religion until you decide it's reason to deprive others of the truth.
You don't need proof of purchase? Do you need to show ID that you live in Iowa? If not, that'd almost be worth a road trip for all the win95 and 98 licenses I've got collecting dust.
"Now I can finally get some money from Microsoft!"
:)
Now there is a domain name just begging to be turned loose
Well, there is a downside to all this, you have to be in Iowa.
I grew up in Nebraska and did a bunch of long distance biking in Iowa http://www.ragbrai.org/ - WHAT A PARTY!!! Go, go now.
The Tulip Festival http://www.orangecityiowa.com/ in Orange City is a bunch of fun too!
BRAN http://www.bran-inc.org/, while fun, was never as good as RAGBRAI!
And file for your MS rebates.
DOS->Win95->Win98->Win2k->WinXP is $80 dollars but ditch one, claim $29 for office and use the vouchers to purchase parallels for Mac :-) They should offer a special bundle of desktop and compressor for the $93 settlement.
Or are the vouchers only redeemable against MS software?
As a confirmed OO user, I dont think I will get any money. But hey two PCs I bought had 30 day trial version of the software. Does it count? May be MSFT will say, ok how about a Stored Value Card with 16$ in it that expires in 30 days ;-)
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
Why oh why does every story in the RSS feed have "Read more of this story at Slashdot.Read more of this story at Slashdot.Read more of this story at Slashdot"???
In all seriousness though, how does something like this happen? Will other states follow suit (pun partially intended) for similar benefits?
Karma police, arrest this man. He talks in math. He buzzes like a fridge. He's like a detuned radio.
... of MS Office 2007, prices starting at $300.
Guys... Microsoft was FOUNDED by a second generation LAWYER/BUSINESSMAN!
I wish I was in Iowa. I have original discs for at least a dozen copies of Windows, and almost as many copies of Office. I'm sure I even have receipts for at least half of those.
Another non-functioning site was "uncertainty.microsoft.com."
The purpose of that site was not known.
... Seems to me people should start billing MS for any time and resources they have wasted in dealing with teh software, regardless of the double standard licensing. (we, MS, get everything and you get no garentee of anything)
I mean, after all the suit was filed because MS abused their monopoly to charge more for their product than they're worth (or something along this lines). Ok, let's look at the competitive products.
MS-Office. Biggest competitor: Open Office. Price difference: Whatever MS-Office costs.
Windows. Biggest competitor: Well, since MacOS isn't available by itself (afaik), let's take Linux. Price difference... I think you get the idea.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Interesting to see how much some of those copies are, xp is still pretty pricey i believe and you only get 16 for it.
Iowa relied on the federal antitrust ruling of 2000 which already found Microsoft to be an abusive monopolist. The Iowa's case was only about how much Microsoft has to pay as a compensation for breaking antitrust laws.
___
If you think big enough, you'll never have to do it.
Does this mean that for older copies of windows, we get money for them? Do we have to send them in? Or do we just get paid for having bought older copies of windows?
From TFA - Companies with multiple copies can seek vouchers that will enable them to buy computer equipment and software. I assume that means Microsoft hard/software. So how does this hurt Microsoft? Nothing like encouraging vendor lock-in.
The creator of this post (Jacob Smith) hereby releases it, and all of his other posts, into the public domain.
You are being MICROattacked, from various angles, in a SOFT manner.
Hilarious! It's almost like getting paid for using a ripped-off copy of Windows for all those years.
> In all seriousness though, how does something like this happen?
It had something to do with the plaintiffs giving the public at large easy access to all the damaging Microsoft strategy documents, where they detail how and why they were screwing their competitors and customers over. Those documents could spare other potential litigants a lot of trouble and expense in discovery, because they'd allow for a ready-made case against Microsoft.
Interestingly, the website they put up went down almost immediately after the settlement. Of course, there's now a perfectly legal torrent of the public documents over on the Pirate Bay. I suspect they didn't anticipate that. I understand that Groklaw is also planning to host them, too, in time.
This was a class-action lawsuit not a state antitrust case. The only thing the State of Iowa had to do with it was that it was in the Iowa court system.
0 people * $16 = 0
"Under the settlement, Microsoft will provide half of any unclaimed proceeds to the Iowa Department of Education to bridge the digital and technical divide in Iowa schools through the purchase of computer hardware and software."
Great...So the next generation can suffer too... This settlement is nothing more than an MS backdoor into the school system. Why use OSX or Linux when we have a pile of MS stuff here in this box...
100,000 copies of XP which will do longer be supported Dec 2008 anyone?
How is the parent post "off topic?"
He raises a good point. If part of the deal is you must produce the original license most people probably won't be able to do so. Microsoft would be getting off REALLY cheap.
The race isn't always to the swift... but that's the way to bet!
I'm going to claim the money I am eligible for (two Windows and two copies of Office on two Dell laptops I bought) plus I'm going to claim the money the restaurant/bar I'm part owner of (5 copies of Windows and one copy of Office on the cash register computers and the server that runs them)
I'm also going to tell everyone I know about the site once it is up and make sure they go there and claim the money they are entitled to and tell them to tell their friends, etc. If word gets around and this is publicized enough on the local news which it really ought to be as it is free money for a couple minutes of work, hopefully there won't BE any unclaimed money.
The revelations from that lawsuit, and the private emails and memos that were entered into the record and made available on the web, must have been incredibly damaging for Microsoft to be willing to make the case go away by paying actual cash. Remember, these things usually get settled for worthless coupons. It's possible the lawyers were about to subpoena evidence that Microsoft really isn't willing to expose to the light of day.
Viper is the preferred editor of the Emacs operating system.
The question now is how do I file to get my refund? Is there any website with any sort of directions?
...every Iowan goes and gets something. Rape MS for all it's worth ;)
I get to buy a tank of gas... wait no I don't. Let see here, paid $200, get $16 back? I don't see exactly how this punishes Microsoft. I understand how there are a lot of people that use MS, and they'll end up paying a fairly large sum; but to each individual it doesn't even come close to how they were ripped off.
Rule: Every post must have at least one AC post a "In Soviet ____ ____s you!1!!1 one"
See the FAQ if you believe me.
2^3 * 31 * 647
Businesses are "encouraged" to keep records for at least the past 7 tax/fiscal years. All financially related records.
The company I work for is a small (12 ppl) firm which resells computers with win2k and msofc 2k3. Therefore we truthfully have PoP for probably (say three+) hundreds of copies of each. That's about $45 * 300+ = $13k+? Too bad we're not in Iowa. That's just if we only had 300 PoPs, and I figure it's probably more than that, but I'm being conservative.
2^3 * 31 * 647
You purchased a new copy of windows every other year between 96 and 06 so that's 7 copies but you're only filing for 6. My math comes up to $96 is due you.
Why every two years? Moore's law, of course. New computer, new license.
2^3 * 31 * 647
http://edge-op.org/iowa/
I also have one but I am not about to publish it for a slashdotting.
$19 for an OS? Not remembering offhand, I'm sure the Minnesota settlement was considerably more. MS bought my wife and I an Epson Store refurbished scanner, cheap HP inkjet and some surplus "Linux Store" linux keyboards on the basis of our OS purchases alone. And, mostly, I used OS/2 and other OSes during the settlement period.
From: http://www.iowasoftwaresuit.com/
The Court has granted preliminary approval of the settlement. A hearing on final approval is scheduled for August 31, 2007.
To receive benefits, you must complete and return a Claim Form which will be available on this website beginning April 25, 2007. The deadline for mailing your Claim Form or submitting your Claim Form online is December 14, 2007 or 30 days after the Court grants Final Approval of the Settlement, whichever comes later.
Check back for additional information and updates.
"Microsoft has settled the suit brought by the State of Iowa."
When I first glanced at that I misread it as
"Microsoft has bought the State of Iowa"
Coder's Stone: The programming language quick ref for iPad