Text 13607, 95 rader
Skriven 2006-10-30 18:00:14 av /m (1:379/45)
Ärende: Surprises inside Microsoft Vista's EULA
===============================================
From: /m <mike@barkto.com>



"...More recently, I had the adults in 'Technology in Our Changing Society'
read both the Windows XP EULA and the GNU General Public License. When I asked
them what they thought, one woman said, 'The EULA sounds like it was written by
a team of lawyers who want to tell me what I can't do, and the GPL sounds like
it was written by a human being who wants me to know what I can do.'..."




http://www.theregister.com/2006/10/29/microsoft_vista_eula_analysis/

===
Analysis It's Autumn in St. Louis, my favorite time of year in Missouri. Coats
are getting progressively thicker as the temperature drops, trees are changing
their leaves in a final show of brilliant color before their skeletons show,
and darkness is starting to scare away the sun a bit earlier every day.

Every Thursday night this Autumn you'll find me teaching the latest iteration
of a wonderful course at Washington University in St. Louis titled "Technology
in Our Changing Society". Once a week my students and I examine a different
issue about the point at which technology and social change intersect, and our
discussions are as fulfilling as they are knotty. I can't tell you how many
times this semester I've heard someone say, "This is a really complicated
issue, and I'm not sure yet what I think.

I respect and understand completely what they're saying. After all, when you're
wrestling with issues around free speech, biotechnology, identity online, or
virtual property, discussions tend to operate in shades of grey instead of
black and white. Sometimes issues are a bit more cut and dried, and a student
will utter a bon mot that perfectly encapsulates an issue.

A long time ago, a high school kid who wasn't that great of a student told the
class, after a long discussion about governments and politics, "Well, here's
what I've learned: socialism is fair but doesn't really work, while capitalism
isn't fair but does work mostly." Not too bad for a 9th grader. More recently,
I had the adults in "Technology in Our Changing Society" read both the Windows
XP EULA and the GNU General Public License. When I asked them what they
thought, one woman said, "The EULA sounds like it was written by a team of
lawyers who want to tell me what I can't do, and the GPL sounds like it was
written by a human being who wants me to know what I can do." Nice

The next version of Windows is just around the corner, so the next time we
discuss software licensing in my course, the EULA for Vista will be front and
center. You can read the Microsoft Vista EULA yourself by going to the official
Find License Terms for Software Licensed from Microsoft page and searching for
Vista. I know many of you have never bothered to read the EULA - who really
wants to, after all? - but take a few minutes and get yourself a copy and read
it. I'll wait.

Back? It's bad, ain't it? Real bad. I mean, previous EULAs weren't anything
great - either as reading material or in terms of rights granted to end users -
but the Vista EULA is horrendous....

It gets better, however. If you comply with Microsoft's licensing and use
Ultimate within a virtualized environment, you still have to comply with
section 6 of the "MICROSOFT WINDOWS VISTA ULTIMATE" appendix to the Vista EULA:

6. USE WITH VIRTUALIZATION TECHNOLOGIES. You may use the software installed on
the licensed device within a virtual (or otherwise emulated) hardware system on
the licensed device. If you do so, you may not play or access content or use
applications protected by any Microsoft digital, information or enterprise
rights management technology or other Microsoft rights management services or
use BitLocker. We advise against playing or accessing content or using
applications protected by other digital, information or enterprise rights
management technology or other rights management services or using full volume
disk drive encryption.

IANAL (I am not a lawyer), but it sure seems to me that this clause goes way
beyond listening to DRM-protected Windows Audio files (and why anyone would
even buy that garbage in the first place is beyond me). Section 6 also appears
to block the opening and reading of documents "protected" with Microsoft's
"Rights Management Services," which I covered a couple of years ago. Basically,
this means that if you want to run a Windows version of Office inside Parallels
or VMWare so you can create, read, and work on documents that have DRM'd,
you're out of luck. Want to test Windows and DRM (those two great tastes that
taste great together)? You gotta buy a new PC!...

To paraphrase what my fifth-grade teacher often told his rambunctious class,
"Beware the wrath of a patient user base." Security pros have already given
Microsoft a deserved black eye over the never-ending string of gaffes and
vulnerabilities streaming out of the company. It seems now as though another
black eyes and a bloody nose may be coming, along with a final wave goodbye.
There comes a point at which corporate hubris causes a fall, and we may be
seeing the beginning of that collapse. If so, Microsoft will have no one but
itself to blame....
===

 /m

--- BBBS/NT v4.01 Flag-5
 * Origin: Barktopia BBS Site http://HarborWebs.com:8081 (1:379/45)