Well, you know things are going badly for Microsoft chequebooks the users of Windows Vista when Microsoft offers free support to anyone and everyone upgrading to Windows Vista Service Pack 1. Of course we already knew it was going bad for users. But now Microsoft, in their infinite altruism, have made it free for anyone to get support when upgrading Windows Vista to SP1.

Some of you may be shocked … to learn that Microsoft didn’t already do so. Yes indeed, it’s a strong belief at Microsoft that users should be stripped of as much money as possible. Err … I mean that OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) like Hell, Gateway (to Hell), HP (Hell’s Pc), et cetera are the ones that have to deal with their whining valued customers. So Microsoft only offers support to retail purchasers of Windows software. Those who get their copy of Windows bundled on their computer have to complain to the company that sold them their computer … or pay Microsoft for “added” support.

Except that the Windows Vista SP1 upgrade is going so badly that Microsoft has reportedly decided to waive that “added” support charge. Or maybe it was just out of the goodness of their hearts? Yeah, I think I almost fell off my chair laughing at that thought too.

Don’t get me wrong. I have nothing patently against Microsoft. I use their products. I think Windows XP shaped up into a fine operating system. Certainly older versions of MS Office (before Microsoft lost their marbles with 2007) work great. I have MS Office 2003 on a company laptop. (Although I liked MS Office 2001 better, and on my own computer I use OpenOffice.) I use Visual Studio 2003. (Though I liked Visual Studio 6 better.) And in general I think Microsoft has always written bloated software, but at least it’s bloated software that typically does more and is easier to use than the competition. (Even if it runs slower and eats up a lot more resources to do it.)

But somewhere along the way, something snapped over there at Microsoft. It’s like they lost their marbles. Windows Vista? Malformed bloatware that really needed a lot more refinement and fixing before it was pushed on the world. Even with SP1 I won’t touch it. (And it’s clear just how well Microsoft has handled Vista SP1.) MS Office? What in the hell were they thinking when designing the user interface in Office 2007? Need I go on? Microsoft keeps pushing more and more features and user interface crap on us, while not listening a whit to what customers actually want. And their products are getting so large that I’ve rather lost my faith in their own coders to keep the source code under control and know what they’re doing.

Still, they’re Microsoft. They’re an institution. (Even if by now they should be institutionalized.) They always will be. So we just better get used to it. I guess.

But while I bend over and take it up the get used to it, let us celebrate other Microsoft greatness.

Like the class action lawsuit over the “Windows Vista Capable” branding in which many computers so branded can barely even run Windows Vista Home Basic. (Not the neato Aero interface versions like Windows Vista Home Premium or Windows Vista Ultimate.) And on the one hand I feel bad for all of the suckers consumers who bought their PC with the Windows Vista Capable branding thinking it would actually run Vista well. On the other hand though, my sympathy is small indeed for it was actually all quite clear to anyone that bothered to research. I honestly don’t understand people who plonk down big bucks on a purchase without first actually researching it, and then get upset when the purchase isn’t everything they wanted. Caveat emptor!

But I hear on the great intarweb-pipe-thingie grapevine that the plaintiff list in the lawsuit is growing quite well. Including the illustrious Jim Allchin, a retired MS exec who had been a veritable god over at Microsoft. Of course other plaintiffs include the likes of Wally World, Amazonian, Worst Buy, Circuit Sh_tty, Hell, Office Despot, and on and on and on ad nauseam. So yeah, good luck Chuck!

And of course how can I mention any Microsoft lawsuit without hopping across the pond to the good ‘ol EU where Microsoft has been fined, to date, something along the lines of a total of $2.57 billion. With the latest $1.3525 billion (well, €899 million) coming on the 27th of February 2008 for still not complying with the March 2004 antitrust decision. One really has to wonder just what Microsoft is planning to do there. Just keep racking up the fines and pretending they aren’t real? Sure seems that way. Of course if I owed someone two and a half billion dollars, I think I’d be faking my own death and hiding in Canada or something.