Microsoft has done it again. Everyone remembers that when Vista came out, it had some, well,… Microsoft has done it again. Everyone remembers that when Vista came out, it had some, well, compatibility issues. Some machines were simply too slow to be compatible. Vista proved to be a rather memory-intensive operating system with its primary visual features enabled. Microsoft suggests, in order for Vista users to be happy, that Vista-running machines be rather hefty. Microsoft is in a spot of trouble, as it claimed that many computers were Vista basic before the average computer on the market was able to meet the demands of the upper echelons of the Vista operating system family. Microsoft is in so much trouble that court proceedings have begun; the case is now considered a class action suit, much to the chagrin of Microsoft executives. The proceedings are also serious enough to require Steve Ballmer, Microsoft’s CEO, to testify, despite Microsoft’s excessive protests. To illustrate the point the plaintiffs in this new anti-Microsoft case make, take a typical example. My old Pentium 4, running at 2.8 gHz, can run Vista. It is, however, a little intimidating. If I ever want to continue using my machine efficiently, I have to downgrade to Windows XP. My computer is capable, though, of running Windows Vista Home Basic. Microsoft and Dell specifically labeled my computer ‘- retroactively ‘- as Vista capable. My Dell Inspiron, running an Intel Core Duo 1.6 gHz machine capable of running the Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate installations provided by Pitt, was labeled as ‘Vista Ready.’ So, run Vista Basic. There is a problem with this, however. Many people do not fully consider this Windows Vista, as it does not include a series of key features that Microsoft touted as being new additions to Vista. Although Vista Home Basic includes the basic core of the Vista operating system, it does not give the user interface that is synonymous with an upgrade from XP to Vista. A quick view of the Microsoft Web site yields the conclusion that Windows Vista Home Basic is extremely stripped down and provides almost no useful features. Microsoft doesn’t even put a check mark next to ‘Easily make DVDs …’ when discussing Windows Vista Home Basic. Fine. Don’t buy Vista Basic, and continue to run Windows XP. The problem with this is that people bought their computers to be Vista machines in good faith. They put their confidence in the fact that Microsoft and its hardware partners accurately estimated the capabilities of their machines and would not in any way inflate their abilities to include the updated Microsoft operating system. The class action suit alleges that Microsoft made money it would not otherwise make had it accurately portrayed the requirements of Vista and not pushed to have the label ‘Vista-capable’ placed on machines that were only capable of comfortably running Windows Vista Home Basic. Microsoft responded to the initial suit by alleging that the circumstances were too complicated to make a tie between the ‘Vista-capable’ label and any malicious actions by Microsoft. The judge ruled that because of the questionability of the feature list included in Windows Vista Home Basic, the suit should be considered a class action, and arguments from the plaintiffs should be heard as such. If you bought your machine after about Christmas 2006, you should be fine for Vista. You might want to hold out for Windows 7, though. After all this hype about Windows Vista, Microsoft seems to have abandoned it and is looking to the future. I wonder what Steve Ballmer will tell the court.