Last Friday there was a hearing in the US District Court up in Seattle in which three pieces of information were presented that Microsoft knew its Vista Capable systems may not be very capable. Reporter Joseph Tartakoff from the Seatle Post-Intelligencer reported that the following information was presented:

During his opening presentation, plaintiffs’ lawyer Jeffrey Tilden of Gordon Tilden Thomas & Cordell quoted from numerous internal e-mails that appeared to show that employees within Microsoft had misgivings about the “Windows Vista Capable” campaign. The documents are under seal pending a ruling by Pechman.

“Even a piece of junk will qualify” for the “Windows Vista Capable” designation, wrote one employee in an e-mail that Tilden read out loud.

Another employee, Mike Nash, currently a corporate vice president for Windows product management, wrote in an e-mail, “I PERSONALLY got burnt. … Are we seeing this from a lot of customers? … I now have a $2,100 e-mail machine.”

Jim Allchin, then the co-president of Microsoft’s Platforms and Services Division, wrote in another e-mail, “We really botched this. … You guys have to do a better job with our customers.”

Another e-mail chain presented in court showed that Wal-Mart was concerned about the impact the campaign could have, and Tilden hinted that other retailers had similar concerns.

The main purpose of the hearing is to determine if a class action claim is warranted. Hmm… if these emails are true it would appear that it may be justified to represent everyone who purchased a Vista Capable PC.

What’s your take on this? Did Microsoft know that these Capable PCs were just a little on the weak side to support Vista?

Comments welcome.

Full article is here.