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[News] Linux... Because You Can't Really Buy Vista or OS X (You Can Rent Them Only)

  • Subject: [News] Linux... Because You Can't Really Buy Vista or OS X (You Can Rent Them Only)
  • From: Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Fri, 19 Oct 2007 19:11:52 +0100
  • Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.advocacy
  • Organization: Netscape / schestowitz.com
  • User-agent: KNode/0.10.4
Did you just buy a copy of VISTA? well, its not yours.

,----[ Quote ]
| What has happened to consumer rights? We have signed them all away (myself 
| included). Its like buying a car , and having the manufacturer tell you that 
| you cannot drive it here or there and you can not let your Kids drive it 
| because you bought it, and you can not change the color because we (the car 
| company ) think it looks better in green. What a load of B*&s!*t. When was 
| the last time you actually took the time to read the terms and conditions on 
| any software you recently bought? in fact we trust these big companies so 
| much that even if they asked us to sign of our homes to them before we could 
| install Windows Vista or MAC OS/x we would, without even a second thought.        
`----

http://www.bligblogblag.com/windows-vista/2007/10/19/did-you-just-buy-a-copy-of-vista-well-its-not-yours.html


Related:

EULA: What Are You Signing Away?

,----[ Quote ]
| EULAs are not negotiated or negotiable, they are rarely read, and they are 
| frequently difficult to obtain, said Rasch. "I just bought an iPhone and 
| couldn't even see the TOS until I opened the box, synched the iPhone and then 
| agreed to the TOS -- and had to pay a restocking fee and activation fee if I 
| disagreed," Rasch commented.    
`----

http://www.linuxinsider.com/rsstory/58451.html


Windows Vista's new spin on licensing

,----[ Quote ]
| As with corporate software licenses, the primary end goal here seems
| to be to maximize revenues for Microsoft, but MS's moves have the
| unfortunate secondary effect of eroding the consumer's fair-use rights
| --or at least the very useful illusion of fair-use rights--in the
| process.
`----

http://techreport.com/etc/2007q1/vista-licensing/index.x?pg=1reve


Vista's legal fine print raises red flags

,----[ Quote ]
| For greater certainty, the terms and conditions remove any doubt about who 
| is in control by providing that "this agreement only gives you some rights 
| to use the software. Microsoft reserves all other rights."
|
| [...]
|
| When Microsoft introduced Windows 95 more than a decade ago, it adopted the 
| Rolling Stones "Start Me Up" as its theme song. As millions of consumers 
| contemplate the company's latest upgrade, the legal and technological 
| restrictions may leave them singing "You Can't Always Get What You Want."
`----

http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/175801


A sneaky change in Windows licensing terms

,----[ Quote ]
| 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.
`----

http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=156


Microsoft is bad for business

,----[ Quote ]
| I recently read an article regarding the copy protection methods of 
| Microsoft's next Operating system, Vista. And my jaw literally dropped to 
| the floor.
| 
| Microsoft is, in essence, a control freak. 
| 
| [...]
| 
| Microsoft is bad for business because they take this level of
| annoyance to the highest level in Windows Vista. 
| 
| [...]
| 
| Microsoft, hear what your customers are saying. You're doing a lot of
| things wrong lately. You're making the wrong choices in your business
| decisions. Other available operating systems are staking a claim at
| your dominance of the market. What will you do next?
`----

http://techstuff.goboardz.com/forum_topic.asp?ID=1102


Vista's EULA Product Activation Worries

,----[ Quote ]
| Mark Rasch looks at the license agreement for Windows Vista and how its 
| product activation component, which can disable operation of the computer, 
| may be like walking on thin ice.
| 
| [...]
| 
| "Does the Microsoft EULA adequately tell you what will happen if you
| don't activate the product or if you can't establish that it is
| genuine? Well, not exactly. It does tell you that some parts of the
| product won't work - but it also ambiguously says that the product
| itself won't work. Moreover, it allows Microsoft, through fine print
| in a generally unread and non negotiable agreement, to create an
| opportunity for economic extortion."
`----

http://www.securityfocus.com/columnists/423


TechnoFile: Incomprehensible gobbledygook and you

,----[ Quote ]
| Another fun tidbit: "The software is licensed, not sold. This
| agreement only gives you some rights to use the software.
| Microsoft reserves all other rights." So you don't own your
| operating system, Microsoft is just lending it to you. 
| 
| [...]
| 
| Compare these terms with Ubuntu, the Linux distribution I use:
| "You may modify your copy or copies of the Program or any portion of
| it, thus forming a work based on the Program, and copy and distribute
| such modifications or work." I'm free to copy and change it as I please,
| and then to give those changes to other people. I sincerely doubt
| Microsoft will be issuing those terms anytime soon. 
`----

http://www.mcgilldaily.com/view.php?aid=5712


Vista licensing also limits benchmarking

,----[ Quote ]
| License transfers aren't the only thing the End User License Agreement
| (EULA) for Microsoft Corp.'s Windows Vista OS limits. The license
| also puts restrictions on how benchmarks of certain components of
| the OS can be published, another issue that is raising eyebrows as
| Microsoft still has not clarified how changes will specifically
| affect users.
| 
| According to the Vista EULA, because the OS contains "one or more
| components" of the .Net Framework 3.0, users can conduct internal 
| benchmarking of those components, but can't disclose the results
| of those benchmarks -- or measurements to compare rival products
| -- unless they comply with conditions found at a Microsoft Web
| site. 
`----

http://www.itworld.com/Comp/2218/061101vistalicense/index.html


Vista EULA stirs up a storm

,----[ Quote ]
| Is Microsoft trying to stop people from copying their icons?
| The same icons that were stolen from the likes of varying
| icon sets under Linux? Are they trying to keep the layout
| or organization of their screens protected as an IP right?
| I think that was done away with in the 90s when Apple sued
| Microsoft over Windows and the judge said basically thats
| ome things just can be copyrighted. Is Microsoft worried
| that the Linux community might try to copy their structure
| and implement it into various distibutions of Linux?
`----

http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=35184


Vista EULA restricts display to one person

,----[ Quote ]
| Paragraph 3C of the EULA states that while the software
| is running, you can use but not share its icons, images,
| sounds and media.
|
| If Microsoft means to word the EULA this way, that implies
| you can't use projectors or linked video monitors if there's
| more than one human being present.
|
| It also implies that you can't take a screen shot of the
| Vista desktop.
`----

http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=35108


Do Microsoft's EULAs have any real legal basis?

,----[ Quote ]
| "Microsoft has no special exemption from the sale of goods act." Well,
| no, probably not - but it might still be selling you "services"
| instead of "goods". But the real point to remember is that it doesn't
| matter a jot what the "logical" position is, it is what the courts
| decide that matters.
| 
| As far as I know, no one has tested Microsoft's EULAs in a UK court
| and, until someone does, Microsoft will just go on assuming that they
| work. And I don't fancy the risk of taking on Microsoft's expensive
| lawyers in court myself...
`----

http://www.regdeveloper.co.uk/2007/04/25/microsoft_eula/

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