Man threatens Microsoft with class action after SP4 failure

Professur

Professur

Well-Known Member
A FRUSTRATED BUSINESSMAN has blown his top with Microsoft after he claimed that a critical security update for Windows 2000 made his PCs unuseable for weeks.
Randy Hubbard, of Raceware Engineering LLC, claimed that SP4 contained defective software, and after going through a lengthy correspondence with Microsoft technical staff, has concluded that he has no further alternative but to be "lead plaintiffs in a Class Action suit against Microsoft for consumer fraud".

The head of Windows 2000 online support wrote to Hubbard saying that during installation of the service pack, clicking the EULA (end user licence agreement) meant that users agreed to indemnify Microsoft against problems. However, he offered him a free Microsoft product "to benefit his work and life".

That prompted Hubbard to reply: "The EULA does not protect Microsoft... While Microsoft's legal department may disagree, state and federal laws prevent enforcement of EULA conditions that violate consumer laws. Based on conversations we've had with experts in the legal community, the EULA is about to be declared unconstitutional and Microsoft and all other software producers who knowingly sell defective software are now going to be held accountable for this consumer fraud".

Here's a sample supplemental EULA for Windows 2000 SP4. It explicitly excludes Microsoft from being held to account for just about anything, apart from the original amount for the software or five US dollars. Microsoft believes that when a user clicks on the EULA, she or he signs away most rights.

Hubbard told the INQUIRER: "Please feel free to write a story about our experience with Microsucks and how they refuse to be accountable for the losses they inflict on business and consumers thru defective 'critical security updates' they produce for Windoze".

He said that Microsoft had called him to see if they could help him recover from what he described as a disaster for his business. He said Microsoft had advised that "some times the updates don't work with older installed software, i.e. they corrupt it as happened in our case with Symantec-Norton AV and IE 5.X. They suggested everyone go buy the latest software and install it prior to installing all Microsucks security upgrades and patches".

He said Microsoft had asked him if it could do anything else to "make him happy". Hubbard told him to send a cheque for $6,000 to cover some of his company's losses. But the Microsoft representative said he didn't have the authority to do that. "I told him to call Dollar Bill and tell him the situation and have him send us a check. He declined," said Hubbard. "I said 'no problem, we're switching to Linux like every other business, have a nice day'".
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Source


anyone abe to back this up? This might be what we've all been waiting for.
 
this guy is a nutcase, IMHO phrases like "microsucks" and "Dollar Bill" don't buy him any credibility. not that i'm defending microshaft, i have nothing against such phrasery, but then again I'm not threatening them with a lawsuit.
 
Even if this is true (it's the Inquirer, take with large grains of salt) nothing will come of it. Hell, the states couldn't effectively sue for monopolistic trade practices, and that's an obvious cakewalk. This moron signed a contract asking them to screw with his systems.

If he's not deft enough to fix his systems after an upgrade, it's his lookout, M$ will argue. And they'll win.
 
Dumbass. He deserves it. Microsoft (and any other software manufacturer) has been warning about the possibility of patches breaking things since I can remember. Hopefully now he'll learn the fine art of beta testing on a non-production machine before going all out, especially on a business system. Gullible.

I really don't think NAV/IE has anything to do with his problem either. Doing a quick google on the problem shows a few hits for the home version of NAV, but hardly anything for business/corporate NAV. Makes me wonder if he's running the home version on his business PCs (licensing issue?). Wouldn't be surprised.
tommyj27 said:
this guy is a nutcase, IMHO phrases like "microsucks" and "Dollar Bill" don't buy him any credibility. not that i'm defending microshaft, i have nothing against such phrasery, but then again I'm not threatening them with a lawsuit.
Click to expand...
Exactly. I went looking for the M$ iz teh sUx0rzz!!!!!11111 but couldn't find it.
 
Sounds like another moron who doesn't know what "backup" means. :lol2:

I personally skipped sp3 because it was so crappy, but sp4 seems ok,
and even fixed some major problem on some of my clients comps,
the sp3 messed up.
 
catocom said:
Sounds like another moron who doesn't know what "backup" means. :lol2:

I personally skipped sp3 because it was so crappy, but sp4 seems ok,
and even fixed some major problem on some of my clients comps,
the sp3 messed up.
Click to expand...
Really, that's funny. Mine runs fine on SP3, but wouldn't even boot after I installed SP4. Of course I had a good backup and new how to fix the problem, but it's weird that mine would do the opposite of yours, huh? BTW, all 2K PCs at work are happily running SP4. :shrug:
 
My laptop runs sp4. Never had any problems. My desktop is running 98se, and it crashes all the time... well, only when I watch any videos.
 
My IE went to the Windows Update site last night. I knew it had been a little while since I did any updates, but I had no idea it would be 37 megs worth. Only problem: the download completely stalled at 29.3 megs and wouldn't budge after that. I couldn't even try re-loading the page to download again.
 
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