Judge Sticks it to Microsoft

During the 2006 holiday shopping season, in a desperate attempt to boost weak sales of their totally sucky operating system, Microsoft engineerd the branding of zillions of PC's with the slogan "Windows Vista Capable."

Those computers were only able to run a very stripped down version of the senselessly bloated operating system, called, laughingly and absurdly, "Vista Home Basic."

People bought the computers, and felt ripped off (because, well, they Microsoft had really stuffed it to them) and somebody sued.

Now, the suit is elevated to the level of a class action suit.

At a hearing two weeks ago, lawyers for Microsoft argued that because each consumer who bought a computer touted as "Windows Vista Capable" had different information at the time of purchase, the lawsuit should not be granted class-action status, while plaintiffs' lawyers said that all individuals who bought "Windows Vista Capable" PCs were united in that "each person in our class did not get what they paid for."

In her ruling, Judge Marsha Pechman granted class-action status, stating that "common issues predominate."

You go, Judge girl.

So, if you are one of the Nimrods who bought into this scam, and you can still show your face through the fog of shame for believing whatever Microsoft tells you, you can get in on the action. But it is complicated. Read more here.