You think that a Dilbert comic isn’t going to influence Microsoft’s earnings. But what you don’t know is that Dilbert has been used in several court cases where an attorney tried to demonstrate the date when obscure technical issues became “common knowledge” and therefore something that a reasonable person should know. The importance in the court cases is that a defendant couldn’t claim ignorance about something that is so widely known it can be included in a Dilbert comic without explanation. If a Dilbert comic mocks Vista, the criticism transforms into “common knowledge” and could influence Mac versus Windows buying decisions.