Microsoft to pay out $1 billion plus in class action

The class action had alleged that the Vole used its monopoly to overcharge people for the Windows operating system.

And Microsoft will settle the case by giving Californians vouchers which range from $5 to $29 which they can use to buy software or hardware.

A condition attached to the settlement means that if all the vouchers are redeemed - which seems unlikely - Microsoft will pay out the whole lot.

If none of the vouchers are redeemeed - also unlikely - Microsoft will have to pay $367 million in hard cash to schools in California and in addition will have to dole out another $367 million worth of its own software.

How it would value its own software is interesting.

Earlier this week, Transmeta looked likely to settle a class action against it for $5.5 million -- a mere drop in the pond compared to this billion dollar suit. µ

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