If you buy something, and through no fault of yours, through regular use, it breaks... and if this happens after your warranty has expired... what do you do? grab the ankles and say "Yes Bubba, I'd love for you to violate me until you've extracted another 300 bucks worth, then we can do this all over again next time it breaks"
It's dog eat dog... they fuck me, I'm gonna fuck them... unless I get caught, then they fuck me again.
It's only a crime if you get caught
only sheep follow every law in the book... what a boring life.
Big business routinely operates on the fringes of the law. White collar crime and corporate crime don't even factor into screwing the little guy in the sake of the bottom line... it's a crime society's elite has chosen NOT to codify into law.
yes, what I propose he do IS fraud, and yes, it IS possible he will get caught... but I propose what Microsoft does by turning out a product that doesn't last as long as bread in the cupboard is equally criminal... the only way to punish them is by going vigilante on those fuckers.
[edit]
or calling them up and playing nice and seeing if they will replace it... as the above poster suggests.
hahahaha
occam's razor just sliced away my proposal