Right. And if that makes sense to you, you're probably a lawyer.

Why give the people what they want when you can sell them what they don't want, then make them jump through hoops to get what they asked for in the first place? That seems to be the Microsoft philosophy at work here.

I keep waiting for them to wake up, smell the manure, realize where that smell is coming from, and do something about how they treat their customers. Maybe they'll do better with . Or maybe we'll have to wait for the Loud Bald One to finally hang up his sweaty blue Oxford shirts and call it a career.

One thing is for sure: Suing Microsoft really hasn't done much more than make a bunch of rich attorneys richer. But it does have a certain entertainment value.

Do you feel degraded by Microsoft's downgrade program? E-mail me here: cringe@infoworld.com. Bonus points awarded for making fun of the inevitable MSFT fanboy comments.