The federal court hearing the disclosure-rich "Vista Capable" class-action suit claiming consumers were misled by the logo has ordered Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to submit to a three-hour deposition.

Microsoft, which tried to block the discovery, maintains that everything Ballmer knows about the marketing program is second-hand and that the Microsoft executives responsible for it have already been deposed.

Ah, but it seems there was this phone call between Ballmer and Intel CEO Paul Otellini in which they supposedly talked about changing the hardware requirement for a "Vista Capable" box.

The complaint, which goes to trial April 13, originally claimed that when Vista was delayed again - and PC makers were depending on it to sell their boxes - consumers were snookered into buying machines in 2006 that wouldn't run the high-end Vista with the gussied-up Aero graphics.

Now it's down to claiming they paid more than they should have because the "Vista Capable" tags heightened demand.

Microsoft is pressing to get the case dismissed as baseless.