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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.)
Several commentators have concluded that what the EULA really means is you can't install a second copy of Vista Home Basic or Vista Home Premium in a virtual machine, but I submit that is not how a normal consumer would interpret the EULA, nor is that the way Microsoft intends it to be interpreted.
Indeed, page 1 of the EULA says: "You may install one copy of the software on the licensed device. You may use the software on up to two processors on that device at one time." That clause covers the multiple-use issue and confirms the intention of the virtualization prohibition.
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Comments (4)
Virtualization's MaturityBy Anonymous on December 8, 2006, 1:43 amVirtualization on the desktop may be relatively new (5 - 10 years old). But as a whole (PC's + mainframes) it's roughly thirty (30!) years old. The first commercial...
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Heaven yes to virtualization, and some HypeWareBy Roland Sassen on December 5, 2006, 5:06 pmHello Mark, it is interesting to see the beginning of the the war between the virtual machines, as you can read in my blog here. have a great day, Roland...
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Down with microsoftBy Anonymous on December 5, 2006, 5:04 pmUp with linux
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This Week in Backspin: Hell yes to Virtualization!By Mark Gibbs on December 5, 2006, 2:10 pmIn Backspin this week I ponder why Microsoft would prohibit the use of Vista Home Basic or Vista Home Premium in a virtual machine and I advocate commercial disobedience.
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