Emma Alvarado is mad as heck and she’s not going to take it anymore. Alvarado purchased a PC from Lenovo on June 20, 2008, it came with Windows Vista Business and she to pay an additional $59.25 in order to “‘downgrade’ her operating system to Windows XP Professional.”
Most people would have just complained about it and moved on. Not Alvarado. She decided she wasn’t going to take it. Though the law firm of Arias, Ozzello, & Gignac, in Santa Barbara Calif., a law firm specializing in class action and consumer rights litigation, Alvarado is suing Microsoft, both on her own behalf and for other users who have been stuck with Vista and want XP. In short, she’s started a class-action suit against Microsoft.
Linux users are long familiar with variations on this theme. Desktop Linux users usually have no use for Windows, but still have to pay for it on most PCs. You can get around paying the Microsoft “tax,” but it’s not easy.