Microsoft announced that it has settled with the plaintiffs in a California class action antitrust lawsuit based on its overcharging consumers and and businesses for Windowses 95 and 98. The suit covers more than 50 milion licenses; the settlement is "worth" $1.1 billion But . . . the refunds will be issued in the form of vouchers good for discounts on various hardware and software products. Could you use one for a discount on an iMac or a Linux support contract? It's not clear from the story.
On the other hand, the vouchers do represent 30% of all Microsoft's monopoly rents, I mean revenue, from sales in California over a seven-year period, and most of them will go to businesses, which could see, in effect, refunds in the tens of thousands of dollars. Any unclaimed amounts will be donated to California public schools . . . partly in Microsoft software. Oh, joy.
Full story here.