Buyer Beware, Microsoft Sued Over Vista Marketing Scheme

It was announced on April 4, 2008 that computer giant Microsoft is being sued for their market flooding scheme with Windows Vista. Being a high speed DSL tech at the time it was forced on the world, Vista didn't even work during our training class. It's a classic case of Microsoft trying to get richer and it' initially cost the public a pretty penny but will it come back to bite them?

If you want to buy a pre-made new PC today it comes with Windows Vista. The software itself isn't flawed but the way it was mass marketed, literally forced on the public, is the subject of the pending lawsuit which was filed in Seattle. The lawsuit, filed by Dianne Kelley, states that Microsoft sold computers which were labeled "Vista compatible" when in fact they could not fully run the software. The lawsuit also alleges that the marketing involved with Vista was designed to deliberately mislead potential new customers. Kelley purchased a new computer back in 206 which was labeled "Vista compatible" and it wasn't until later that she discovered it was only capable of running the most basic version of the operating system.

Windows XP, which is what had become the public mainstay, only requires (per Microsoft guidelines) a PC with a processor speed of 300 MHz or higher (233MHz is the bare minimum you could have), 128MB of memory (64MB is the bare minimum), 1.5 GB of hard disk space, Super VGA (800X600) or higher resolution monitor and video adapter, CD or DVD ROM and a keyboard. Those are some pretty straight forward system requirements and most PC's being built when XP was released met all of those, or most, with little problem. Now let's look at Vista and these pre-made computers people were buying.

Windows Vista requires the following to simply run the basic home edition which means none of the flashy features that Microsoft was showing you examples of in their commercials. This is bare bones, not many frills or core features, which we are talking about here so keep that in mind. The computer would need a processor speed of 800MHz or faster, 512MB of memory, and a video card that is DirectX 9 capable (which qualifies it as Vista compatible). Jeffrey Thomas, an attorney with the law firm Gordon Murray Tilden which is representing Kelley, stated that consumers purchasing new computers back in 2006 and 2007 had "a reasonable expectation" in getting "the core experience that Microsoft has spent quite a lot of money advertising as the Vista experience." Kelley did not get that experience like so many other consumers.

Microsoft contends that people using the Basic version are in fact getting the "Vista experience." Microsoft lawyer Norman stated that television is a medium which focuses on visualization and it was not shocking that the visual aspects of Vista were highlighted in the television ads. Being a PC technician myself let me give you little better understanding of what all of this means.

Computers that were, and still are, being sold with Vista installed come with the very bare minimum just to run the operating system unless they are upgraded at the time of purchase. For example, I recently spoke with a client that wants to downgrade back to XP on her laptop. I had her check the amount of memory installed on it and it's only the required 512MB so in order for the computer to run faster than a snail, she needs a memory upgrade. Now, I went to the Dell website and looked at their high end machines which cost more than $1000; all of them had 2GB of Dual Channel DDR2 memory which will be fine to run Vista. When you go to the lower end systems that students and new consumers are looking at though you start seeing a decrease in the amount of memory the basic system comes with and you have to pay more to have the increased memory to run Vista.

Going to the HP website I was looking at the ever popular HP Pavillion laptops and I chose the lowest priced one they had available which is the dv6700z Series; just the way it is with no upgrades will run you $599.99. It comes with 1 GB of DDR2 memory which will get Vista running but again it's going to be very slow. As a PC technician I always recommend a minimum of 2GB to keep things with Vista running smoothly because no one runs just the operating system; we play games, go online, listen to music and so much more.

The issue isn't necessarily with Vista, it's with the way Vista was marketed. I don't' see the ads on television anymore and it most likely has to do with the current lawsuit so in essence Microsoft has stopped using the television as their visual media forum to advertise Vista. It's buyer beware when shopping for a pre-made system and the thing to keep in mind is look at the system specifications before looking at the bottom line.