Microsoft Exec: 'We Really Botched' Vista Campaign

Microsoft last March was sued by a pair of consumers who claimed they'd been deceived by its 'Windows Vista Capable' marketing campaign, which was designed to help consumers choose PCs with sufficient power to run all the high-end features of Vista. The plaintiffs claimed that the 'Vista Capable' machines they bought were only capable of running the most basic version of the OS.

Late last year, the plaintiffs' lawyers started pushing to expand the case to a class action suit. In court last week, lawyers quoted excerpts from Microsoft executives' emails that suggest they were well aware of the campaign's shortcomings, according a Friday report in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

"I PERSONALLY got burnt ... Are we seeing this from a lot of customers? ... I now have a $2,100 e-mail machine," wrote Mike Nash, corporate vice president of Windows Product Management.

Jim Allchin, former co-president of Microsoft's Platforms and Services Division, wrote: "We really botched this ... You guys have to do a better job with our customers."

U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman is expected to issue a ruling by Feb. 18, according to the Post-Intelligencer.