Yes! I'm not alone in loathing Vista!

Yes! I'm glad to hear that I'm not alone in disliking Vista. Journalist Randall Stross of the New York Times wrote an article today entitled, They Criticized Vista. And They Should Know.

According to Mr. Stross, some disgruntled Vista users have filed a class action lawsuit:

"We usually do not have the opportunity to overhear Microsoft’s most senior executives vent their personal frustrations with Windows. But a lawsuit filed against Microsoft in March 2007 in United States District Court in Seattle has pried loose a packet of internal company documents. The plaintiffs, Dianne Kelley and Kenneth Hansen, bought PCs in late 2006, before Vista’s release, and contend that Microsoft’s “Windows Vista Capable” stickers were misleading when affixed to machines that turned out to be incapable of running the versions of Vista that offered the features Microsoft was marketing as distinctive Vista benefits.

Last month, Judge Marsha A. Pechman granted class-action status to the suit, which is scheduled to go to trial in October. (Microsoft last week appealed the certification decision.)

Anyone who bought a PC that Microsoft labeled “Windows Vista Capable” without also declaring “Premium Capable” is now a party in the suit. The judge also unsealed a cache of 200 e-mail messages and internal reports, covering Microsoft’s discussions of how best to market Vista, beginning in 2005 and extending beyond its introduction in January 2007. The documents incidentally include those accounts of frustrated Vista users in Microsoft’s executive suites."

Well ... we'll definitely have to keep our eyes on this class action lawsuit.

Mr. Stross ends his article saying,

"Now that Microsoft faces a certified class action, a judge may be the one who oversees the fix. In the meantime, where does Microsoft go to buy back its lost credibility?"

I can answer that question:

Microsoft will have to buy back its lost credibility from Apple, because that's where thousands of disgruntled users like myself are going to go: to a place that maintains at least some respect for the customer's experience.