Remember those little stickers on the front of your lovely new computer that said “Vista Capable”? I’m a fan of Ubuntu but I really wanted to see if Vista was all that the MS hype machine said it was. So, I’d decided to install Vista Ultimate on my “Vista Capable” laptop. Now here’s where things started to get more interesting. That little badge didn’t actually mean you could happily run the rather obese full version of Vista. It was in fact referring to the machines ability to run the stripped out version - Vista Basic! I won’t repeat any of the phrases that were uttered as I think some of them may actually be illegal.

I work in the tech industry. I have many friends in the tech industry. A large number of them had “Vista Capable” stickers on their computers…can you see where this is going?

Here we have the well oiled MS media machine churning out infomation that suggested my two month old (at the time) laptop could juggle Vista like a first class circus act. Actually, it more like a very poor comedy routine - “Oh yes he did”, “Oh no he didn’t” ad infinitum! So, heads are rolling at the top. Actually, no they aren’t.

It seems that Steve Ballmer has already exonerated himself:

I was not involved in any of the operational decisions about the Windows Vista Capable program. I was not involved in establishing the requirements computers must satisfy to qualify for the Windows Vista Capable program. I was not involved in formulating any market strategy or any public messaging surrounding the Windows Vista Capable program.

To the best of my recollection, I do not have any unique knowledge of nor did I have any unique involvement in any decisions regarding the Windows Vista Capable program. All of my knowledge about those decisions came through other people at Microsoft, notably Jim Allchin, Microsoft’s then-co-President, Platforms Products & Services, and Will Poole, Microsoft’s then Senior Vice President, Windows Client Business.

There you have. The decision was nothing to do with the management. Apparently, it was all the fault of Jim Allchin and Will Poole who have since left Microsoft.

Ballmer was called to testify in an ongoing case brought by users who feel that they may have been ‘a little mislead’ by the “Vista Capable” stickers. The Plaintiffs in the case allege that Microsoft artificially inflated demand in the run-up to Christmas 2006, by falsely advertising that PCs would be capable of running the full version of the firm’s delayed Vista operating system.

I absolutely refuse to believe that any company would attempt such underhand tactics in order to maintain an astronomically lucractive lead in a market sector!

Popularity: 50% [?]