"I don't want to keep beating up on Microsoft; I really don't, but it is particularly hard to avoid doing so at the moment. The company's ubiquity means that one can't help but notice the sometimes unpleasant, occasionally weird and often downright sleazy things that it does.
The thing that caught my eye this week was the following line in the End User License Agreement (EULA) for Microsoft's Vista Home Basic and Vista Home Premium: "USE WITH VIRTUALIZATION TECHNOLOGIES. You may not use the software installed on the licensed device within a virtual (or otherwise emulated) hardware system." (See page 11 of the EULA.)" "The real weirdness clincher is making the prohibition legally binding through the EULA. Microsoft didn't just provide advice to consumers; the company made it so that it could take consumers to court should they be caught running Basic or Premium in a virtual machine. That's the way to build a loyal consumer base! If Microsoft keeps this clause in the final Vista EULA, I think every right-minded consumer should consider this as an issue of unfair trade practice by the corporate equivalent of a schoolyard bully. Consumers should get themselves a virtualization system, such as VMware or Parallels, and run it with Vista Basic or Vista Premium on principle. If Microsoft decides to take legal action, I think we'll all ante up for the consumer's defense. Letting Microsoft get away with this nonsense will set a precedent that will come back to bite us in the digital assets, allowing, as it will, software vendors and ultimately hardware vendors to dictate how, when and where we can use their products. The first hurdle will be the consumer market, and the professional market will be next. How hard do you want your job and your life to be?" <http://www.networkworld.com/columnists/2006/120406backspin.html> _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: [email protected] Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox OT-free version of this list: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.
