LA lawyer files suit against Microsoft over Surface storage capacity

[Shawn Knight]

Los Angeles-based lawyer Andrew Sokolowski has filed a suit against Microsoft due to the fact the company’s Surface RT tablet ships with less free space than advertised. The attorney believes Microsoft intentionally buried details about the actual amount of usable storage out of the box.

Sokolowski said he purchased a 32GB Surface RT tablet last week but ran out of storage space after loading some music and Word files onto it. After a bit of research, he realized that only 16GB of the claimed 32GB was on tap for him to use.

Lawyers representing him (lawyers representing a lawyer, weird, right?) are seeking class action status alleging false advertising and unfair business practices. The suit was filed earlier this week in the Superior Court in Los Angeles with the goal of getting Microsoft to change how they advertise the tablet’s capacity.

Microsoft released a statement on the matter saying that customers understand that the operating system and pre-installed applications reside on the device’s storage, effectively reducing the total free space. Redmond also pointed out that customers can add additional storage via the microSD card slot or through the USB port.

The company posted a FAQ on their website earlier this month outlining exactly how much free space each capacity tablet ships with. If you missed that post, here’s a quick refresher. The 32GB Surface RT has only 16GB of usable space with a fresh install of Windows while the 64GB model ships with 46GB of free space.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/50828-la-lawyer-files-suit-against-microsoft-over-surface-storage-capacity.html

 

[lchu12]

Not gonna win...if this case is successful, then it'll open a floodgate of lawsuits against HDD makers and PC manufacturers. Just my .02...

 

[Guest]

Not gonna win...if this case is successful, then it'll open a floodgate of lawsuits against HDD makers and PC manufacturers. Just my .02...

I agree. It has been that way in computer and phone for decades. I don't know why he thinks that it's new....

 

[Guest]

Since when does "some music and Word files" equate to 16GBs of storage?

 

[Gareis]

Since when does "some music and Word files" equate to 16GBs of storage?

My thoughts exactly.

 

[Guest]

Just like the monitor size class action suit, in another 5 years Surface owners will get a check for $2.50 and MS will add 32 GB, 16 GB usable.

 

[essi2]

Apple have been doing this for ages, if he MS loses this will probably have an impact on them as well as HDD and PC producers.

 

[Divvet]

Not gonna win...if this case is successful, then it'll open a floodgate of lawsuits against HDD makers and PC manufacturers. Just my .02...

I agree. It has been that way in computer and phone for decades. I don't know why he thinks that it's new....

I don't understand how you think this.
If you are referring to when a manufacturer says a drive is 1tb but is actually 984gb then your completely wrong because that is not the case here. The drives here are 32 gb but 16 gb is used by the OS, which isn't advertised very well. Thats the point of this lawsuit. However you could still in theory remove Windows and reclaim the drive.

If that isn't what you meant however, do ignore me, but it is a bit shocking how M$ can create such a bloated OS in comparison to the other tablet OS sizes.

 

[Cota]

No no no no, you guys are not getting it, what the lawyer says is that the 32GB crap, only comes whit 16 GB of free space, so the crap DOES comes whit 32GB in space, but 16 of those are used by the installation.

Although I do give the user reason since the marketing departments think a GB is 1000 MB and a MB is 1000 KB and so on , while the true is that is 1024 instead of 1000 :\ This is why iOS does displays the "correct" sizes in storage devices and Windows "lose" some space according tho the economics engineers [/sarcasm]

 

[Teko03]

Not gonna win...if this case is successful, then it'll open a floodgate of lawsuits against HDD makers and PC manufacturers. Just my .02...

I agree. It has been that way in computer and phone for decades. I don't know why he thinks that it's new....

I don't understand how you think this.
If you are referring to when a manufacturer says a drive is 1tb but is actually 984gb then your completely wrong because that is not the case here. The drives here are 32 gb but 16 gb is used by the OS, which isn't advertised very well. Thats the point of this lawsuit. However you could still in theory remove Windows and reclaim the drive.

If that isn't what you meant however, do ignore me, but it is a bit shocking how M$ can create such a bloated OS in comparison to the other tablet OS sizes.

Actually the drive is 32GB, the "formatting" reduces this to 24.9GB (in the same way a 160GB drive would really be 149 GB). Then Windows RT, pre-installed apps (which can be removed) & "recovery" data collectively takes up another 8GB-9GB.

 

[Guest]

"If that isn't what you meant however, do ignore me, but it is a bit shocking how M$ can create such a bloated OS in comparison to the other tablet OS sizes."

It's not exactly a surprise. Windows 8 is pretty much just a desktop OS that is also optimized for tablet uses (also supporting ARM processors) which is why it's so large. Just take a look at how much space Windows 7 takes up.

Either way this whole litigation crap is just plain annoying. It seem nowadays there are so many reasons to sue.

 

[treeski]

Then Windows RT, pre-installed apps (which can be removed) & "recovery" data collectively takes up another 8GB-9GB.

Keep in mind that the Office Suite cannot be uninstalled

 

[JohnnyH]

You can also move the recovery data to USB storage, then delete that recovery partition to get back more space too. In some other post, MS stated that he bought the Surface on Nov 7, but MS already posted info about the used spaces and available space for the Surface RT on website around Nov 5.

This guy is just a dumb lawyer.

Not gonna win...if this case is successful, then it'll open a floodgate of lawsuits against HDD makers and PC manufacturers. Just my .02...

I agree. It has been that way in computer and phone for decades. I don't know why he thinks that it's new....

I don't understand how you think this.
If you are referring to when a manufacturer says a drive is 1tb but is actually 984gb then your completely wrong because that is not the case here. The drives here are 32 gb but 16 gb is used by the OS, which isn't advertised very well. Thats the point of this lawsuit. However you could still in theory remove Windows and reclaim the drive.

If that isn't what you meant however, do ignore me, but it is a bit shocking how M$ can create such a bloated OS in comparison to the other tablet OS sizes.

Actually the drive is 32GB, the "formatting" reduces this to 24.9GB (in the same way a 160GB drive would really be 149 GB). Then Windows RT, pre-installed apps (which can be removed) & "recovery" data collectively takes up another 8GB-9GB.

 

[captaincranky]

Can you reasonably expect an "LA lawyer", to know anything other than the process of initiating frivolous lawsuits?

He probably bought that piece of crap with the intention of suing over it, not with the intention of actually using it.

 

[Adhmuz]

Anyone want to help me round up all the lawyers in the LA area and toss em in a big pit and wait until they eat each other, or just seal it with concrete. Problem solved, no more lawsuit and the rest of the world who aren't complete *** hats can go on living a better life. "some music and Word files" translation, porn and other illegally downloaded video. Because 16GB of music is about 3000 songs, more than some, and word files? Right...

 

[Littleczr]

I think is shady. And MS should just say something on the box that is 16gb usable. I'm on the side of the plaintiff.

 

[JudaZ]

So you bought a device with 32GB storage.. .and you got a device with 32GB storage .. you are suing for what now? Being retarded?

Then you can sue every computer manufacturers out there that sell a device with an OS pre-installed.

 

[Guest]

What is shady?
The lawyer? That would be obvious.
Anything else regarding understanding available space vs. actual storage size has been common sense in the digital world for quite some time. This isn't about justice, its about ignorance and greed.

 

[Guest]

Let him sue...

That lawtard will have a quick education on facts... that indeed the said tablet has that much storage. It does not say free storage..

Secondly, lets not forget the ignorance of not understanding what a MicroSD drive it..


Lawyer dude is just a tard..

 

[sdms96825]

"Lawyers representing him (lawyers representing a lawyer, weird, right?) are seeking class action status alleging false advertising and unfair business practices."

Of course he is seeking class action status. For one of the most interesting reads in decades, see "Circle of Greed" by Patrick Dillon and Carl Cannon which traces the rise and fall of one of California's all-time scum lawyers, William Lerach, who, with the aid of certain judges, so rigged frivolous class action lawsuits that he cost consumers billions of dollars.

 

[Camikazi]

Not gonna win...if this case is successful, then it'll open a floodgate of lawsuits against HDD makers and PC manufacturers. Just my .02...

I agree. It has been that way in computer and phone for decades. I don't know why he thinks that it's new....

I don't understand how you think this.
If you are referring to when a manufacturer says a drive is 1tb but is actually 984gb then your completely wrong because that is not the case here. The drives here are 32 gb but 16 gb is used by the OS, which isn't advertised very well. Thats the point of this lawsuit. However you could still in theory remove Windows and reclaim the drive.

If that isn't what you meant however, do ignore me, but it is a bit shocking how M$ can create such a bloated OS in comparison to the other tablet OS sizes.

Actually the drive is 32GB, the "formatting" reduces this to 24.9GB (in the same way a 160GB drive would really be 149 GB). Then Windows RT, pre-installed apps (which can be removed) & "recovery" data collectively takes up another 8GB-9GB.

32GB formatted would show up as about 29GB not 25GB.

 

[Denooon]

I would agree with a lawyer, 50% of your HDD it is a way to much to get away with, 10% 20% it is acceptable. MS should change it to 16 Gb in my opinion.

 

[ghasmanjr]

I have an Asus Infinity tablet with 32gb of internal storage, of which only 29 is usable. This is a MUCH big difference than 32gb of internal storage, of which only 16 is usable. I understand what he's getting at. I was pretty disappointed that the Surface (and Asus Vivotab) come with a crap amount of free space. You'd think that a tablet OS would be optimized. Leave it to Microsoft to leave an OS with extra....fat *coughvistacough*

 

[Camikazi]

No no no no, you guys are not getting it, what the lawyer says is that the 32GB crap, only comes whit 16 GB of free space, so the crap DOES comes whit 32GB in space, but 16 of those are used by the installation.

Although I do give the user reason since the marketing departments think a GB is 1000 MB and a MB is 1000 KB and so on , while the true is that is 1024 instead of 1000 :\ This is why iOS does displays the "correct" sizes in storage devices and Windows "lose" some space according tho the economics engineers [/sarcasm]

A GB actually is 1000MB 1024MiB equals a GiB which is not the same thing, the total space comes out to be the same but HDD makers just like to use round numbers. Those round numbers also end up making the total number look bigger (1TB is equal to 931GiB).

 

[JudaZ]

I would agree with a lawyer, 50% of your HDD it is a way to much to get away with, 10% 20% it is acceptable. MS should change it to 16 Gb in my opinion.

So Microsoft should put wrong facts on the packaging because this lawyer is an *****?
The Surface has 32GB,of storage, not 16GB

 

[RH00D]

Windows isn't really that bloated... You can do a full Windows 7 64-bit installation on a 10 GB hard drive with 1 GB free space left over (Try it in a virtual machine). Also, this takes up a lot of space because on the back-end it's a full operating system with massive amounts of expandability, a huge feature set, and lots of customization. On the front-end it may look like a "mobile OS" but on the back-end it's way ahead of it's competitors in terms of capability.