PRESS RELEASE Of interest to editors and journalists covering: Software, Consumer, Law/Legal, NC Business News Microsoft Documents In Need Of Shredding, says NC Resident CARY, NC - Feb. 3, 2004 /Send2Press Newswire/ -- North Carolina residents have begun receiving documents relating to the settlement that was reached last November in a class action lawsuit filed against Microsoft Corporation. The lawsuit alleges that Microsoft violated the state's antitrust and unfair competition laws and therefore overcharged its North Carolina customers for the Microsoft Windows operating system, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and other products. Cary, North Carolina, resident Eric Hill has a suggestion for what residents should do with those documents. "Shred them," says Hill. "Microsoft achieved dominance in the personal computer industry by delivering value to its customers. Their customers have always been free to accept Microsoft's prices, try to negotiate better prices, or reject them and buy competing products. The fact that Microsoft's competitors have done such a poor job competing that almost everyone has chosen Microsoft products is not Microsoft's fault. It was embarrassing enough that North Carolina participated in the federal antitrust case against Microsoft. Now, some North Carolina trial lawyers see an opportunity to loot Microsoft by suggesting that, because they were so successful, they must have overcharged customers. They need to be stopped." Microsoft has agreed to pay up to nearly $90 million to settle the lawsuit, plus legal fees that will reach $22 million if the plaintiff's lawyers get their way. The $90 million will be paid in the form of vouchers to individuals and businesses that purchased certain Microsoft products during the past eight years. The vouchers can then be redeemed for up to $10 toward other computer-related purchases. Hill has launched a web site, http://www.msvouchershredders.org, to discourage recipients of the settlement documents from participating in "the looting" by filing for the vouchers. Instead, he encourages recipients to shred the settlement documents and mail the shredded output to the plaintiff's attorney in the case, Raleigh's Kieran Shanahan. After that, recipients are encouraged to take one of the options outlined in the settlement documents for protesting the settlement. Those options include formally opting out of the settlement and sending a formal objection to the settlement and attorney's fees to the court and the lawyers for both sides. Visitors to the site can read Hill's own objection letter and follow links to articles explaining the injustice of the various antitrust actions taken against Microsoft. For more information, contact Media Relations for msvouchershredders.org at (919) 623-4885 between the hours of 6:00pm and 9:00pm EST. Or, visit our website at http://www.msvouchershredders.org. MEDIA CONTACT: Eric W. Hill msvouchershredders.org Phone: +1-919-623-4885 media@msvouchershredders.org # # # [ source of news = msvouchershredders.org ] ref: http://www.send2press.com/2archive/2004/pr_04_0203-erichill-R.txt --------------------------------------------------------------------------- *IMPORTANT NOTE TO MEDIA: to reach the organization releasing this news, please contact: media@msvouchershredders.org If used for publication, please send specimen copy. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- S2P-R/0c/ NC / CARY, North Carolina / Copr. (c) 2004 Send2Press. This release was issued on behalf of the above organization by Send2Press(tm), a unit of Neotrope(R). http://www.Send2Press.com .