> > MS-DOS and Windows 3.x are clearly abandonware. If I want to > > use this abandonware, am I suddenly breaking the law? > > Not suddenly. It is and was breaking the law. Of course you can > hope that MS is too busy hunting people who steal Vista, but > you cannot just say that stealing MS DOS is suddenly legal...
Some MS-DOS games don't work in freedos, something that can be fixed hopefully, and one needs MS-DOS for them. That said, games like Ultima VII and any game based on the Wolfenstein 3D gaming engine will work on 98 on down and in some cases in XP if you use either dosbox or in the case of Ultima VII, Exult. It is illegal to download and use MS-DOS, but I have a wrecked copy of it sitting on the shelf. If Microsoft were to try and sue me for my copy, I can point to the one on the shelf as well as the fact that MS-DOS licenses were never tied to specific computers. I could also complain that Microsoft isn't supporting MS-DOS and claim that it doesn't have a right to sue people over it. There is also the fact that I don't profit from MS-DOS in any way which is outside of the realm of personal use. MS-DOS to my knowledge never asked for an installation code and it is not marked in any way as copy XYZ. Windows 95 is a different story where I threw away my cracked copy which is labeled as being the property of McDonald's. The fact that Microsoft can prosecute illegal use of ancient versions of Windows and all versions of MS-DOS is all the more reason for this project to pick up and release a better freedos. It is also high time that a Windows 3.1/9x replacement got under way. Most games that run in either 98/XP are really meant for 98. ReactOS is not 98 and the ReactOS team will never pursue a gui that runs on top of dos. Actually, one thing I don't like about ReactOS is that it asks for identifying information including a name and company just like Windows 9x and later does. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Crystal Reports - New Free Runtime and 30 Day Trial Check out the new simplified licensign option that enables unlimited royalty-free distribution of the report engine for externally facing server and web deployment. http://p.sf.net/sfu/businessobjects _______________________________________________ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
