Microsoft mis-targeted by XP downgrade suit?

Stephen Withers
Monday, 16 February 2009 03:04

IT Industry - Market

But it does seem that PC vendors are the real targets of the suit, since it was they - not Microsoft - that charged for downgrades.

Is Alvarado is asking for something for nothing? All she needed to do was take delivery of her new computer, find an genuine original XP retail installer disc, and use that to install her preferred operating system. No extra cost would have been involved.

But she wanted the supplier to provide a non-standard software installation, so wouldn't it have been reasonable to expect to pay extra?

After all, if you chose to pay a technician to install an operating system for you, the bill would probably be around $50.

And when all's said and done, it's possible that the law firm leading the case has picked the wrong representative plaintiff. Alvarado selected Vista Business, which comes with a downgrade right.

Why didn't they go with someone that bought a system with Vista Home Basic or Premium, and wanted to downgrade to XP Home? Microsoft's exclusion of the downgrade right in these circumstances does seem arbitrary, and that would have been a much bigger fish to fry.

The suit, brought in the US District Court in Seattle, seeks triple damages, costs, and an injunction restraining the defendants from engaging in the alleged activities.