The State of Iowa vs. Microsoft

RevenantOne — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 20:50:00 GMT

I am a simple man.

I do not claim to understand the deep inner workings of finance and big business. But what I do understand is that when the pockets of the rich are picked it’s the peasants that pay for it.

Ok, so we don't exactly live in the middle ages but the sentiment is ageless.

When the good peoples of Iowa decided to sue Microsoft after they “violated Iowa antitrust and unfair competition laws" those enormous think tanks fueled by the limitless power of the Gates Wisdom Engine kicked into high gear. Already expecting to pay more than $75 million in legal fees and no guarantee they could win the case, Microsoft settled out of court with the Iowanders for a meager $179,950,000 distributed in $16 chunks per license bought by consumers for Windows, $29 for Office, $10 for stand alone Word, Home Essentials, or Works Suites and $25 for each stand alone copy of Excel. This software must have been purchased between May 18, 1994 and June 30, 2006 and must not have been purchased from Microsoft directly.

Isn't this great! We can all get our money back from Microsoft. What they did specifically, I'm not real sure about. It's seems an incredible injustice that while we're saying "you played unfair!" we're also saying "you charged too much!" Those two things seem to be mutually exclusive especially since part of the 1998 federal antitrust lawsuit stated that Microsoft deliberately undercharged for their product packages as a means to further undermine their competition. As if making the better product and constructing the best marketing engine in history wasn't enough. So all of us poor Iowans are getting our money back and the rest of the country can go to bed at night knowing that they apparently weren’t overcharged a dime.

But while we’re suing Microsoft in the name of Des Moines let's not forget that these days many users are also saying "Cool! I found a crack for Microsoft’s Age of Solar Empires at War 3D Hack MMORPG First Person Shooter Apocalypse Just-Kill-Them-All game that I can use on my pirated copy of Windows XP!" Microsoft estimated it lost 14 billion dollars in 2005 alone from pirated software and funded a study that estimated 90% of its software sold at online auctions was actually fraudulent copies. Maybe Microsoft should sue Iowa...and Illinois too...some of that lost revenue had to come from the Midwest. We consumers (yes, even us special Iowans) will be the ones that pay for this nonsense in the end. This whole lawsuit business seems incredibly misguided and makes me ponder the true value of eye-for-an-eye philosophies on justice in some circumstances.

So after I filled out my forms and sent them off for my fair share I sat down to write this little article. Do I feel bad that I just became a willing part of a problem that I don’t even believe is right? Where are my moral convictions? Where is my sense of justice? Where is my capitalistic and democratic American spirit? Where in God's name, is my mother?

I'm not sure about my mother but everything else is perfectly intact. As I said, times like these make me wonder about backlash justice. I have always believed that most software, Microsoft's or otherwise, is grossly overpriced and wouldn't you know it there just happens to be a lawsuit out there that I can get in on and make some of that money back. I have nothing against Microsoft or Mr. Gates and I may be a simple man but I certainly have nothing against receiving a refund check from twelve years of overpriced software either.

My only real question now is how I can get Iowa to sue the MPAA and the video gaming industry …

The Revenant's Tech Blog : class action

The State of Iowa vs. Microsoft