Posted Nov 26, 2007 | by Rich Menga | 1 Comment

Microsoft is no stranger to having people sue them left and right. And if you weren’t aware there is a lawsuit against the corporate giant right now which has been formally requested to be of class-action status.

What’s the case all about? Basically put, some people feel that Windows Vista Basic Edition is not "real" enough. Why? Because computers sold that were branded as "Windows Vista Capable" could only run Basic Edition. And that means no Aero interface (a staple of Windows Vista design) among other things.

Microsoft states they went to great lengths to inform consumers of the differences between Vista Basic, Premium, Ultimate and so on.

I’ll be honest — I don’t know which side to take.

A product name with the word "Basic" in it should be obvious to anyone with a brain that you’re not going to get features in the more powerful versions.

Then again, "Windows Vista Capable" could be easily misunderstood to mean all versions of Vista could run on a box labeled as "capable".

Microsoft could have avoided this one by simply adding one word: Basic. As in "Windows Vista Basic Capable" instead of just "Windows Vista Capable".

However I do agree with Microsoft that yes, Vista Basic is a real true-blue full operating system.. just without the goodies in the other versions.

It will be interesting to see how this case turns out. If the "little guys" win, do all Vista Basic owners get free upgrades to Premium? That wouldn’t do much good considering their PC’s can’t run it. (D’oh!)