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

[Frank Bax]

At 12:35 PM 10/13/06, Stephen J. McCracken wrote:

> >> 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.
>[snip]
> >> You may not use the software installed on the licensed device
> >> within a virtual (or otherwise emulated) hardware system.
> >>
> > 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.
>
>I might be fun to think that, but it's probably more for stopping
>"piracy".  In an emulated environment, the "hardware" can be manipulated
>and Vista probably can't tell the difference between one emulated
>machine and another.  So, rather than trying to solve that problem and
>only allowing the install on one Virtual Machine, they disallow it all
>together.
>
>sjm
>
>P.S. Could we please try not to "top-post"?  It would be appreciated, at
>the very least, by me.



I'm sorry, I misquoted the article/license - that sentence only applies to 
home versions only.  The license for Ultimate version says:

You may use the software installed on the licensed device within a virtual 
(or otherwise emulated) hardware system on the licensed device.

The above arguments could still hold, if you assume home environment is 
where most of the piracy happens; but the water gets a bit muddy when you 
consider Microsoft's "VirtualPC" software is now free (not sure when that 
happened, I noticed last month).
         http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtualpc/default.mspx