Gizmodo: class-action lawsuit

Get Up to $90 Back in Sprint Early Termination Fee Class Action Settlement

Sean Fallon — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 17:40:00 EST

Money from a proposed settlement in the Sprint ETF class action lawsuit is up for grabs for just about anyone who entered into a wireless contract with Sprint between July 1999 and December 2008.

Specifically, anyone with a time based clause in their contract with an ETF during that time is eligible. If you were charged an ETF and can provide proof, you stand to gain $90. If you did not cancel a contract during that time in order to avoid and ETF, you could gain an extra $35. Like all legal situations, there is a bit of a run around to go thorough—but a detailed explanation and information on how to file is available on the Sprint settlement website. [sprintetfsettlement via Consumerist]

Microsoft Lowered Vista Hardware Requirements to Appease Intel

Dan Nosowitz — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 10:30:00 EST

The class-action lawsuit against Microsoft for its misleading "Vista Capable" marketing let loose another scandal when emails between Microsoft and Intel execs surfaced (PDF link), suggesting Microsoft cut Vista's hardware requirements to help out Intel. Originally, Intel's 915 series chipsets didn't qualify for the important "Vista Capable" sticker, but after a scheduling mix-up, Microsoft decided to throw Intel a bone by pretending the chipsets are up to Vista standards.

Apparently, Microsoft decided to begin their "Vista Capable" marketing program three months earlier than expected, which left Intel a bit in the dust, without time to ramp up production on their newer, more powerful chipsets. Intel execs complained to Microsoft execs through email that the losses would be severe, and Microsoft decided to appease their partner by relaxing their standards for Vista capability, even though the 915 series is incapable of running Aero.

This is a pretty damning piece of evidence, especially given emails like this one from Jim Allchin, then-co-president of platform products and services: "I believe we are going to be misleading customers with the Capable program. OEMs will say a machine is Capable and customers will believe that it will run all the core Vista features." He concluded, "We must avoid confusion. It is wrong for customers." Well said, Jim. [The Inquirer]

Western Digital Settles Hard Drive Capacity Lawsuit

Travis Hudson — Wed, 28 Jun 2006 12:40:06 EDT

Take note, Apple. Western Digital is actually settling a class-action lawsuit that was filed against them. They are giving out free software to consumers who filed a lawsuit claiming the hard drives actually had less space that promised. This software is available for anyone who has purchased a Western Digital hard drive from March 22, 2001 to February 15, 2006. It isn't just some run-of-the-mill software either, the software retail value is roughly $30 per copy.

The lawsuit stemmed because Western Digital decided to interpret one gigabyte as 1 billion bytes, while actual operating systems like Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X interpret one gigabyte by the correct number of 1.07 billion bytes. This 7-percent shortfall would be like losing 5.6GB of storage space on an 80GB hard drive. If you too have been victimized by Western Digital, then you can claim your free correction software here. – Travis Hudson

Western Digital Settles Capacity Dispute [Sydney Morning Herald]