“A California lawyer is suing Microsoft Corp., claiming the Surface tablet he bought doesn’t have all the storage space the company advertised,” Peter Svensson reports for The Associated Press.
“Andrew Sokolowski, a lawyer in Los Angeles, claims that he bought a Surface with 32 gigabytes of storage last week. But he quickly ran out of space after loading it with music and Microsoft Word documents,” Svensson reports. “He discovered that a significant portion of the 32 GB storage space was being used by the operating system and pre-installed apps such as Word and Excel. Only 16 GB was available for him to use.”
Svensson reports, “Sokolowski’s lawyers filed the suit alleging false advertising and unfair business practices on Tuesday at the Superior Court in Los Angeles. They are seeking class action status. The suit aims to change how Microsoft advertises its device and hopes to force the company to give back revenue and profits that resulted from its alleged wrongful conduct.”
MacDailyNews Take: “Profits?!” Ha! Good one!
Svensson reports, “Microsoft confirmed on Nov. 5 exactly how much usable storage space its Surface tablets come with out of the box. It says on its website that the 32 GB Surface has 16 GB of free space while the 64 GB version has 45 GB free… On flash drives, the kind used in tablets, another factor reduces the available storage further. A portion of the memory space is set aside to replace ‘cells’ that wear out over time. For this reason, Apple’s 16 GB iPad has an actual storage capacity that’s 11 percent lower than the one advertised: 14.3 GB. The 64 GB model stores 57.2 GB.”
MacDailyNews Take: The difference is stark. Apple’s iOS and built-in apps take up just 11% and Microsoft’s Windows RT morass of spaghetti code obliterates 50% of available storage. That Microsoft ever even made a nickel is all the proof anyone should ever need that this planet is littered neck-high with the morbidly stupid.
Svensson reports, “On the iPad, all the storage space after the 11 percent ‘discount’ is available for the user’s photos, movies and apps. The operating system and Apple’s pre-installed apps have their own, separate memory space. Microsoft’s operating system and apps, in contrast, share memory space with the user.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: This ambulance chaser ought to sue himself for wasting his money on garbage with a kickstand to begin with; as if Microsoft doesn’t have an well-deserved, ironclad reputation for excreting shoddy hardware and bloated, poor-performing operating systems.
On the positive side, it’s not like there are any apps for the POS, so the idiots who’ve saddled themselves with the thing should have plenty of room for their bad music, awful snapshots, and ugly Word documents.
Related articles:
Beleaguered Microsoft has failed – November 14, 2012
Slate reviews Microsoft’s Surface tablet: Too slow, mercilessly buggy; why is it so bad? – November 6, 2012
Microsoft’s bloated Windows RT eats 16GB of Surface tablet – November 5, 2012
InfoWorld reviews Microsoft Surface RT: A disappointment; you’re better off with Apple’s iPad – October 31, 2012
Acer delays Windows RT tablets; adopts ‘wait and see’ approach after poor Surface RT reviews – October 30, 2012
Gizmodo reviews Microsoft Surface RT: Do not buy; inferior to Apple’s iPad; the worst of both worlds – October 25, 2012
The Verge reviews Microsoft Surface RT tablet: ‘The whole thing is honestly perplexing; who is this for?’ – October 24, 2012
Analyst: Microsoft’s Surface RT tablet priced too high, could be the next Zune – October 18, 2012
Dvorak: ‘Microsoft’s Surface tablet isn’t the Apple iPad, so it shouldn’t be priced like one’ – October 18, 2012
Microsoft inexplicably claims Surface RT tablet lower resolution screen beats iPad with Retina display – October 17, 2012
Microsoft Surface RT tablet Wi-Fi-only; 32GB for $599 with, $499 without keyboard, $699 for 64GB – October 16, 2012
Microsoft airs first TV ad for Surface tablet (with video) – October 15, 2012
Apple’s ‘iPad mini’ to obliterate Microsoft’s Windows 8, Surface RT tablet launches – October 13, 2012
Acer CEO to Microsoft: ‘Think twice’ about Surface tablets – August 7, 2012
Microsoft Surface tablet pricing leaked; US$1,000 for ‘cheapest’ Windows RT model – July 26, 2012
Ballmer: Uh, yeah, ‘Surface is just a design point,’ you know – July 10, 2012
Microsoft’s Buffoon, er… Ballmer throws down gauntlet against Apple – July 10, 2012
Microsoft reportedly dumps ‘VaporMg’ chassis, will use ‘VaporMg’ only as ‘surface treatment’ – July 9, 2012
Microsoft’s downfall: Inside the executive e-mails and cannibalistic culture that fueled Microsoft’s lost decade – July 7, 2012
HP said to dump Microsoft over Surface; to cozy up to Google Android for tablet efforts – July 2, 2012
Bad news for Microsoft’s iPad killer? – July 2, 2012
Dear Microsoft, Steve Balmer and Bill Gates: What is up with your obsession with keyboards? – June 28, 2012
Jason Schwarz: Top 10 reasons why Microsoft’s Surface is DOA – June 22, 2012
Why I love Microsoft’s vaporware Surface tablet – June 22, 2012
Microsoft’s Surface tablet said to be Wi-Fi only at launch; no 4G, no 3G, no 2G, not even 1G – June 22, 2012
Microsoft outsources Surface assembly to Pegatron; prices above $799 for Windows 8, above $599 for Windows RT expected – June 21, 2012
Acer founder: Microsoft will quit making tablets soon – June 21, 2012
Devastating video shows Microsoft’s Surface event aping Steve Jobs’ iPad unveiling (with video) – June 20, 2012
Thanks to Apple, Microsoft is doomed in the era of mobile computing – June 20, 2012
Why wouldn’t Microsoft let anyone touch its Surface tablets’ keyboard cover? – June 20, 2012
The cost of Microsoft’s Surface tablets – June 20, 2012
Apple’s revolutionary iPad vs. Microsoft’s anti-tablet ‘Surface’ – June 20, 2012
Microsoft’s Surface tablets provokes ‘sense of betrayal’ among Windows PC assemblers – June 20, 2012
Fox News: Copier Microsoft is doomed to fail with Surface tablet – June 19, 2012
Microsoft’s Surface tablet destined to be as successful as the Zune – June 19, 2012
Surface: Why Microsoft’s big mystery turns out to be a big mistake – June 19, 2012
Microsoft’s Suicide, er… ‘Surface’ – June 19, 2012
ZDNet Sr. Tech Editor Perlow: Microsoft’s Surface has catastrophe written all over it – June 19, 2012
Microsoft previews own ‘Surface’ tablet – June 18, 2012
Microsoft touts ‘major’ June 18 event said to showcase Windows RT tablets – June 15, 2012
ZDNet’s Kingsley-Hughes: Microsoft’s Windows 8 is an awful, horrible, painful design disaster – June 8, 2012
Analyst meets with big computer maker, finds ‘general lack of enthusiasm’ for Windows 8 – June 8, 2012
Dvorak: Windows 8 an unmitigated disaster; unusable and annoying; it makes your teeth itch – June 3, 2012
The Guardian: Microsoft’s Windows 8 is confusing as hell; an appalling user experience – March 5, 2012
More good news for Apple: Microsoft previews Windows 8 (with video) – June 1, 2011
It is entirely possible (although rather unlikely) that this lawyer found out, before buying, that MS is actually falsely advertising their device, so he bought it with the purpose of suing (and meanwhile, already had an iPad). Knowing that he is a lawyer, though, makes this possibility rather distant…
A lawyer anecdote (from an actual trial):
A defending attorney was cross examining a coroner. The attorney asked, “Before you signed the death certificate had you taken the man’s pulse?”
The coroner said, “No.”
The attorney then asked, “Did you listen for a heart beat?”
“No.”
“Did you check for breathing?”
“No.”
“So when you signed the death certificate you had not taken any steps to make sure the man was dead, had you?”
“Well, let me put it this way. The man’s brain was sitting in a jar on my desk, but for all I know he could be out there practicing law somewhere.”
Outstanding! 😀 Good thing I’d just finished my coffee.
=:~)
lol, and then later that same man became President Of The United States Of America…forward!
That was a while ago. GWB wasn’t a lawyer was he? Oh, now I get it, you thought he was the deceased man.
You’re just not a very bright person.
Ohhh, I think he is.
Boy, you sure have me pegged. I guess it is the proverbial case of the pot calling the kettle black?
That coming from a Yankees fan. Ho ho.
ho ho, 27 Time World Champions, dickbrain.
Not this year numbskull. Yuk yuk.
you must be a Red Sox fan..yukety yuk yuk.
People still buy Microsoft products?! That’ll teach them.
All Apple can do is make a device thinner. Microsoft is tackling quantum physics itself by squeezing 34,359,738,368 bytes of storage into the space previously occupied by 17,179,869,184.
You people wouldn’t know innovation if it reared up and bit you.
+ ∞!!
What you’ve written makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.
I recognise the words, but the order they’re presented in has no meaning that I can determine.
I suggest sylvanlearning.com.
In the meantime, I’ll toss the frisbee lower.
rofl
Even 11% (9% on my 64GB iPad) is a bit much. A “lite” install of OSX takes up 2GB. iOS takes up 6GB!?
I’m not expert on flash devices, but from my reading of the above synopsis, Apple’s OS and apps reside in their own separate memory space and the 11% is the margin set aside for “wear balancing” of the flash memory cells; the article doesn’t specify the size of the OS space.
Not really. OSX takes up a lot more. There is no “light install” some updates are smaller than others but OSX as a whole is big.
Regardless, this lawyer is an idiot.
Once upon a time, a fellow buying a product that didn’t meet his expectations would return it for a refund then get on with his life. If he bought based on misleading claims he might report it to the Federal Trade Commission, then get on with his life. Now he thinks, “Hey, maybe I can sue and get a lot of money for my troubles!” A clear sign of a society in decline.
For a lawyer is not very bright.
At least he ran out of space, and didn’t have is keyboard opened up like a fish
The comparison is not quite apples-to-apples.
RT includes MS Office — love it or hate it, it’s a large app suite.
I am going to side for Microsoft on this one.
The rules have not changed. The device has 32GB of storage. The OS takes up 16 GB but there you have it. It’s no different than any other Windows device, there’s storage and then there’s what’s left after you get it up and running.
The debate may be, “Should they have advertised how much space their OS takes up?” Maybe in the system requirements of the OS, IDK.
There was no intent to be dishonest here I feel.
be that as it may, Microthingy blew it in the face of their customers…wow…i’m surprised that they even got any.
We are talking about a mobile device here it’s not a desktop or laptop with 500Gb and up of hdd where they can easely take away 10/15gb without a problem
They blew it by gobbling up 16gb of space for the OS and blew it again for not advertising it.
This guys, have been around for decades and don’t know how to do things right.
Advertising the Surface as having “32GB” of storage when only half that is actually available crosses the line in a big way.
When somebody buys a computer with a whatever-gigabyte HD they know that not 100% of its storage space will be available, but there’s a very reasonable expectation that most of it will be available.
You can fall back on a “technically it IS 32GB!” argument but that’s a bogus defense. A device says it’s 32GB on the box, that implies you’ll be getting nearly 32GB of free space. Everybody knows that. Including, I’m sure, Microsoft.
” I am going to side for Microsoft on this one.
The rules have not changed. The device has 32GB of storage. The OS takes up 16 GB but there you have it.”
Oh please that’s ridiculous! If the OS takes up 1/2 of the space – and you certainly can’t run it without the OS – you only have 16GBs of storage. Pure and simple.
MS screwed up big time with this. It’s just too bad for the schmucks that bought it thinking they had a full 32GBs. But that’s what you get for trusting MS.
A lot of times, during an install, Windows will keep a system restore snapshot so it can rollback to that point in time, should something go wrong. I’ve found that after three years or so, a 3GB Server 2003 install can take-up 10GB with updates and logs. So, your 16GB system is the smallest it will be; it only gets bigger from there…
Good point wzinc, the bloat is only going to get bigger!
Even if MSFT is a mortal enemy of MDN, cheering on frivolous lawsuits is no my style. The world has too many nutcases with lawyers.
MDN is not cheering on this lawsuit.
If you reread the MDN takes, I think you’ll see it’s clear.
MDN: “This ambulance chaser ought to sue himself
…”
iOS is not stored separately on a “separate memory space” whatever the hell that is. The IPSW files range from 700-900MB and probably equate to 1-1.5 GB of space once expanded. Additionally, 16GB is the size reported by the chip manufacturers, and of course is less once formatted.
The Surface did not have enough room for his Huey Lewis and The News collection.