Lawyers: Microsoft may launch Windows 7 'junk PC' scheme

Papers filed yesterday in the Vista "junk PC" lawsuit reveal that the lawyers suing Microsoft believe that before Windows 7 is launched, Microsoft may roll out a "Windows 7 Capable" scheme, similar to controversial Vista Capable plan for which Microsoft is now being sued. Here are the details, including excerpts from the court filing.

The latest filing is part of the lawsuit against Microsoft for a marketing scheme in which people claim that Microsoft misled consumers into buying the Windows Vista Capable PCs, even though the PCs couldn't run the most important features of Vista. Microsoft has tried to get a judge to freeze the case, and then throw it out of court. In response, lawyers filed papers listing all the reasons why the case should not be frozen.

In trying to get the case frozen, Microsoft had this to say:

...the court has no concern of more people being exposed to the conduct at issue during the stay.

In other words, the damage has already been done to people who bought Vista Capable PCs, and because those PCs are no longer being sold, there's no danger that anyone else might buy one.

But the lawyers who filed the class-action lawsuit warn that Microsoft may launch a similar scheme for Windows 7. They note, in their filing, that Microsoft has said it will launch Windows 7 in late 2009 or 2010. The filing then goes on to say:

Applying the same timeline from the Vista Capable program, we gather Microsoft employees are now having the same "spirited" debate about unveiling a "Windows 7 Capable" program to maintain demand for Vista-based PCs prior to the Windows 7 launch. We believe this case will help the decision makers within Microsoft "do the right thing" for potential Windows 7 consumers, rather than allowing its preoccupation with profit to take precedence over the wisdom and counsel of its own employees, as well as OEM and retail partners.

Papers in this case show that, indeed, Microsoft employees and retail partners were extremely unhappy with the Vista Capable scheme. As I wrote in a previous blog, Wal-Mart, Office Depot, and other retailers felt they were being bullied into going along with the program, and wished it hadn't been launched. And top Microsoft execs were brutally frank about their unhappiness with the scheme as well, and detailed all the problems they had with Vista Capable PCs.

In the just-filed papers, lawyers contend that Microsoft launched the Vista Capable PC scheme as a way to make sure that people continued to buy XP-based PCs during the holiday season just before Vista was launched. They say that Microsoft admitted that:

...the entire Windows Vista Capable ("WVC") marketing program was designed by Microsoft to maintain demand for XP-based PCs so as to keep those XP-based PCs selling during the period immediately before Vista's launch.

Microsoft is considering doing the same pre-Windows 7, they claim, to make sure that people keep buying Vista PCs in the days before launch.

I'm hoping that is just a bit of hyperbole on the part of lawyers, and that Microsoft isn't really considering such a scheme. It would hurt consumers and retailers, and in the long run, do even more damage to Microsoft.

[Like this blog? Subscribe to the RSS feed here!]