consumer

An Italian consumer agency is suing Microsoft because it experienced difficulty getting a refund for an "unwanted" copy of Windows 7 which came pre-bundled with a new PC. If it gets as far as a verdict, it could set a legal precedent. The case ... involves Vincenzo Donvito, a man which resides in Florence, Italy. He bought an ASUS Eee PC netbook that came pre-bundled with the starter edition of Windows 7 already installed. Donvito later decided he did not want to use Windows 7 Starter and instead wanted to replace it with an alternative operating system (OS) for his Eee PC. (Source: ... (view more)

Microsoft recently commissioned research in two cities to try to understand how different types of consumer, from teens to professionals to baby boomers, think about privacy. During the recently held Data Privacy Day in San Francisco, Microsoft ... participated in a panel discussion with privacy experts from the California Office of Privacy Protection, the Center for Democracy and Technology, Intel and MySpace. According to Microsoft's Chief privacy strategist Peter Cullen, breaches impact consumer trust and is causing increased concern. (Source: google.com) Microsoft and other organizations ... (view more)

Norway's leading consumer advocate wants to bring down Apple's "walled garden" between the iPod music player and the iTunes online retail store. Bjorn Erik Thon, Norway's consumer ombudsman, says he is going to ask the country's Market Council -- a ... court that has legal authority to make companies change their business practices -- to force Apple to allow competition within the iTunes-iPod ecosphere. (Source: guardian.co.uk ) Currently, Apple's iPod is the only portable device that can sync with iTunes and the iTunes store. Since its launch in 2003, The iTunes Store, Apple's online retail arm ... (view more)

A little more than a week ago, Wal-Mart Stores quietly chucked its video download offering into the waste bin. Introduced less than a year ago, Wal-Mart appears to have given up when Hewlett-Packard, its technology partner in the venture, cut ... support. (Source: zdnet.com ). This doesn't mean that downloading video directly to the consumer is a dead issue. This week, Netflix -- the company that sends DVD's to more than 7 million consumers in little red envelopes -- joined Apple and Amazon in experimenting with ways to offer complete media "choice" to the heretofore limited selections offered ... (view more)