The Minnesota Microsoft Settlement:

So, I finally got a check from the Microsoft/Minnesota price fixing settlement today. Back in 2003-2004, the state of Minnesota filed suit against Microsoft for price-fixing software. As the settlement, people were entitled to get money back for each copy of Office, DOS, Windows, etc that they purchased or received with hardware since 2001 or so. (it was something like $10-20 per license, depending on the software.. ie. not much)

Usually, when I do these things (along with rebates), I try to track when I sent it, and when I received the check. Well, I thought it was about a year since I sent this thing out. So, I went into my Excel sheet.. and found that I had sent it in July 2004!

I had given up on the settlement money, since I didn't have all the documents, and it was impossible to get through to the claims administrator. The amount I was expecting wasn't much, (usually trial lawyers get lots more), but I can't believe I actually received a check after 20 months!

Definitely sets a new rebate/check record. I credit the combination of Microsoft's database skills and state government bureaucracy that allowed my check to be sent after 20 months. I mean, if I had a kid that was born on the date I sent the rebate, he/she would be starting pre-school already!