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It is a story the same reason that the stupid non-issue with the iphone antenna was a story, or the location tracking fiasco was a story...

Some loon files a lawsuit, and its Microsofts turn to get kicked by the media. It doesn't matter that this is a tired old issue that goes back decades and affects virtually every computer on earth. It doesn't matter that the number of people genuinely surprised by the issue could fit in a thimble.

Its Microsoft's turn - it has to be somebody's turn and the internet is bored with kicking Apple.

That said, Microsoft could have avoided this easily. They should have just reported free space - i.e. 32BG storage (16GB available to user). They used to do exactly this on Windows CE devices - don't know why they stopped.

don't be so stupid please. This case has no merit because the amount of memory is accurately advertised.

The iPhone antenna not working was abnormal and was definitely news. Just like illegally and immorally and unsecurely tracking users without their knowlesge woukd be, if that is what you are referring to


These stories share nothing in common

I've been meaning to sue Commodore over my C64. I mean, it has 64K RAM. Why only 38911 bytes free to BASIC??! 20K used by the O/S? Unacceptable!

(By which I mean 20K of ROM which masked 20K of RAM. Detail is an elephant. Or irrelevant. Or whatever)

Using ML you can use up to 60 kB.

For me the 38911 bytes never were a wall I'd hit.

You can also say the OS only uses 20 kB, so it beats Windows RT, iOS and Android in smallness.

For personal computers, you're right. People expect a Windows to take 5-10% of a 320 GB harddrive. For portable devices, people are accustomed to the advertised storage being available for media (e.g. 10,000 songs on your 32 GB MP3 player).

This trend has changed somewhat with smartphones, as Android might take 512 MB of the 32 GB available, but it's generally trivial. Phones which don't advertise the space might use more (e.g. 1.5 GB of 8 GB), but nowhere near 50%. People see "32 GB" and expect to be able to put ~5,000 pictures, ~2,000 MP3s and ~25 movies on the device simultaneously. That's why they bought a device with many gigabytes of storage -- to store media on it.

Errrr, no Thom. No other device advertises storage and then leaves you with half of the advertised storage. It's a joke.