Economics Expert & Microsoft Class Action Suit

A Microsoft marketing scheme persuading consumers to buy PCs "capable" of running Windows Vista could cost more money than Microsoft made from the program. University of Washington Associate Economics Professor Keith Leffler gave evidence in the class-action suit against Microsoft's Windows Vista Capable program and estimated the cost of upgrading so-called "capable" PCs to machines able to run premium editions at between $3.08bn and $8.52bn.   The economics expert arrived at the numbers after he was asked by plaintiffs in the case to calculate the impact of the program on the demand and prices of PCs and judge whether there had been an adverse impact on consumers.  ChannelRegister.com also reports:

At the crux of the case is the question of whether Microsoft deliberately mislead consumers who bought a Windows Vista "capable" machine into thinking they could install the full operating system. Windows Vista Capable got you a machine able to run the stripped down basic editions such as Home Basic, but not the premium-edition Windows Vista Ultimate.