I guess Microsoft forgot to put the proper small print under "Vista Capable", because one irate customer is taking them to court. When she learned her "Vista Capable" machine only met the requirements for Vista Home Basic and not the more demanding requirements of Aero and Vista versions that include it. Does the lawsuit have feet to stand on? Obviously, Microsoft says no:
Microsoft said Monday that the suit wrongly overlooks its efforts to make clear the differences between the different versions. The company "conducted a very broad and unprecedented effort" to help PC makers, retailers and consumers "understand the hardware requirements to run the various flavors of the Windows Vista operating system," said Linda Norman, a Microsoft associate general counsel
Microsoft even has a separate labeling system for machines meeting the requirements for Vista Premium, but according to the lawyers trying the case it is a case of bait and switch - where a "Vista" capable machine should be able to run any version. Does Microsoft really need to go so far as to create individual stickers for each version of Vista and the machines that could run them? I'm certainly no fan of Microsoft's marketing, but on the other hand at one point the user has to take over and do some research themselves.