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Double RAM Scams
This happened back in 1995
| When people don't know technology like nowadays and try to cut the costs. |
 displaying Microsoft Logo |
- SoftRAM (29.95$) were released in March of 1995, for Microsoft Windows 3.x
- SoftRAM95 (79.95$) were released in August of 1995, for Microsoft Windows 95
Both were released in the same year, 1995 but the SoftRAM gained its popularity when Microsoft Windows 95 were released. At the time, Windows 95 need to be run at least 4MB of RAM, and for recommended performance, 8MB of RAM need to be used. This is how the story begins. Now, some people who did upgrade from the previous version of Microsoft Windows might use SoftRAM at the time. As you can see, the physical RAM was quite expensive. Some people who want to cut the budget, use the software. The fact is, SoftRAM for Microsoft Windows 95 was released in August 1995 where it was the same month when Microsoft Windows 95 were released. Didn't they suspect a thing? No, not at all. This is because when the SoftRAM was advertised, there was Microsoft logo. Now the software that want to use the logo MUST passed the test, as Microsoft was a major company to take care their reputation seriously. When this happened, people was fooled, thought it was approved by Microsoft.
 box consumer purchased |
- the pamphlet for congratulating the consumer for purchasing it
- manual book about the SoftRAM
- the single diskette containing the installation program.
Now lets start with the pamphlet. Not much, it just required you to fill the pamphlet and got some merchandise like cap and clothes. Only that? How about SoftRAM's manual book? Yes there is a lot of information there and it just same as the Getting Started in SoftRAM software. The Getting Started itself make it sounded super sophisticated and complicated, promising that their software was doing as they advertised them. Which is, doubling your RAM amount. Lastly, we have one floppy disk that containing all of the installation program. But how small it is?
This is my own comparison with random installation program that comes in floppy disk:
| Software | Release Year | Number of Floppy Disks |
|---|---|---|
| Windows 3.1 | 1992 | 7 disks |
| Windows for Workgroups 3.11 | 1993 | 13 disks |
| Print Shop Deluxe (Windows 3.x) | 1993 | 3 disks |
| Windows 1.0x | 1985 | 5 disks |
| Microsoft Entertainment Pack | 1990 | 2 disks |
Please note that the largest floppy disk storage at the time was 1.44MB. The program was so small, required only 950KB of storage. So the installation was very quick. After you installed the software, the setup said that your memory has been extended to certain amount. For system change effect, it prompted the user to restart their computer. This is very normal for computer to change the effect after restart.
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Each time you increase or decrease the SoftRAM memory, you are prompted to restart the computer. One of the other option is just like enable or disable the SoftRAM. Same, it prompted you to restart the computer. That's it. Only that? No because there is a option that is the most basic option you ever seen in your life. the option just tell you if you want the SoftRAM to be on top or not. But that was in SoftRAM. How about SoftRAM95? The setup just the same but this time, they include the progress bar at the left during installation. Even the option was much better, it is not a lot but it was not only the option if you want the SoftRAM95 want to be on top.
In December 1995, this is where the scam was revealed to the public. The German computing journal did disassemble the application and the result was, the application didn't do what it was claimed to. Wait, if it did nothing to add the memory, then what did it does on your computer? The answer is, not much. Even it was claimed to proudly extend or double your RAM in the readme document, it's still a lie. Even the Getting Started and manual are just convincing, it just a scam. The SoftRAM was called to be "Placebo Software". To make it simple:
Placebo: means that you are thinking that the thing are really does how it was claimed to, but the reality is, it didn't happen at all.
To make you understand much easier what is Placebo effect, it's like someone gives you a fake medicine while you are sick. It was claimed to be the best medicine ever so you take it and you back to healthy again. But the real thing is, it does nothing. When I mean noting, its nothing. If you bring the medicine to the scientist, they just said the medicine would do nothing. Same like this, people who run the software claimed that their computer was simply faster than before. The reality is, the software does nothing. Many users believed that the software would improve their system's performance, and their perception was influenced by this belief, leading them to think that their computers were running faster.
 Windows 95 |
- Swap file, also known as Page file is a virtual memory
- The process is known as paging
- Temporarily holds data that is swapped in and out of physical memory as needed.
The explanation was, when your computer runs out of physical RAM while running applications, it uses the swap file to store parts of the data that are not currently being used. This helps the computer manage memory more efficiently and allows it to run more applications simultaneously. But the question is, why people wasting their money for about almost 80$ just for that? It was a scam as it only proved to do that because the computer already did that. Now it not a good time for Syncronys Inc. because it's no longer for waiting the U.S. government to get into. Now the Syncronys Inc faced many lawsuit like Federal Trade Commission for example. Not only that, Microsoft also sued them. It's because they used the Microsoft trademark without ever get the consent from Microsoft. Only the application who passed the Microsoft Logo Testing Program's criteria are able to use the logo. Now how crazy the company is, is proved that they send the software to Microsoft for testing, but the company shipped the software that containing bugs to their consumer. Although there is no specific evidence to confirm they sent a working version to Microsoft, it is true that the software released to consumers was ineffective and contained misleading claims.
The company did not stop there. They did claimed that SoftRAM95 was not working as intended, but the original SoftRAM did. However, further investigations revealed that neither version attempted to perform any compression. Despite this, the products were sold to over 700,000 customers. There are no online references detailing the exact amount Syncronys Inc was fined, but it is evident that the fine was substantial enough that the company could not pay it. As part of the settlement, Syncronys. Inc offered a $10 rebate to mitigate the fine. So yeah, most customers did not get their money back, except maybe for those who directly sued the company.
The company also in debt for 2,000,000$, way more than their company's profit. Just imagine, no income and the debt was very high and finally, the company filed the bankruptcy in 1998 for 4,500,000$. Also, no all of the people get the rebate. The company even tried to be quiet from the world by producing new software for Microsoft Windows 98, UpgradeAID 98. This software was designed to make the use that using Windows 98 by an upgrade can hibernate the Operating System and using back the Windows 95 simultaneously. This time it was legit software but useless, as the user can just simply uninstall Windows 98 and revert back to Windows 95. And there is one thing, people didn't forget the incident as they have been scammed. So no one ever wanted to purchase the software ever again. At least the scam what cause the company to their downfall.
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