[CS-FSLUG] OT? A sneaky change in Windows licensing terms

[Bob K Mertz]

I'm pretty certain that this licensing change is in response to the 
popularity that VMware has been gaining.  Microsoft is facing a problem 
where they are losing the monopoly of the desktop and things like VMware 
and other virutalization packages are making it easier for people to not 
use Windows as their only operating system.  If the end user is able to 
start playing with Linux without completely getting rid of Windows, 
third party developers will start seeing the need to cross-develop 
applications for Windows and Linux -- thus starting to eliminate the 
"need" for Windows.

Just my two cents :)


Frank Bax wrote:
> http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=156
>
> http://blogs.zdnet.com/hardware/index.php?p=116
>
> Previously, a retail license could be removed from one computer and 
> reinstalled on another with no limits. Now, you get to reinstall one time 
> and one time only.
>
> With a retail version of Windows XP, there are no restrictions on the 
> number of times you can transfer the software from one computer to another 
> in your household or office. That's about to change for the worse in Vista, 
> with only one lifetime transfer allowed. It makes the outrageous price 
> difference between retail and OEM copies even more difficult to justify.
>
> You may not use the software installed on the licensed device within a 
> virtual (or otherwise emulated) hardware system.
>
>
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