Unusable EULA's
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft's instant messenger app had a surprisingly readable EULA,
| but was a snooze-inducing 12 pages and 6,343 words long.
`----
http://www.usabilityblog.com/blog/archives/2007/03/unusable_eulas.php
This is not the first time...
MSN AdCenter - Impossible to read TOS
,----[ Quote ]
| As you can see from the screenshot above (click it to enlarge), the
| MSN AdCenter TOS is enclosed in a small box, approximately 1-inch
| wide by about 1/2-inch tall! Maybe it's because I was using Firefox
| and not Microsoft's Internet Explorer, but I still find it comical to
| the point of absurdity. I still signed up, but I wonder what Microsoft
| is hiding in that tiny box?
`----
http://grownupgeek.blogspot.com/2007/01/msn-adcenter-impossible-to-read-tos.html
Related:
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 Home Editions Won't Run On Mac, Linux Virtual Machines
,----[ Quote ]
| That means Linux aficionados or users of Apple Macs will not legally
| be able to use software from vendors such as Parallels or EMC's VMWare
| to create so-called virtual machines on their desktops to run Vista
| alongside their favorite OS. Windows users wanting to run Vista in a
| virtual machine environment for security or productivity purposes
| also will need either the Business or Ultimate Edition.
`----
http://www.channelweb.com/sections/allnews/article.jhtml?articleId=197003013&cid=ChannelWebNews
http://tinyurl.com/39xozq
Exchange 2007 facing integration issues with other Microsoft software
,----[ Quote ]
| In a nutshell, Exchange 2007 can't run on Microsoft's most
| current virtualization software...
|
| [...]
|
| In any case, users are already reacting, especially in regards to
| virtualization, which has become a hot bed of networking activity, as well
| as, a major area of competition for Microsoft with VMWare and open source
| Xen on Linux platforms
`----
http://www.linuxworld.com/news/2007/011107-exchange-vista-integration.html?fsrc=rss-linux-news
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
MSN AdCenter - Impossible to read TOS
,----[ Quote ]
| As you can see from the screenshot above (click it to enlarge), the
| MSN AdCenter TOS is enclosed in a small box, approximately 1-inch
| wide by about 1/2-inch tall! Maybe it's because I was using Firefox
| and not Microsoft's Internet Explorer, but I still find it comical to
| the point of absurdity. I still signed up, but I wonder what Microsoft
| is hiding in that tiny box?
`----
http://grownupgeek.blogspot.com/2007/01/msn-adcenter-impossible-to-read-tos.html
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
At a glance 2: GPL, CDDL and BSD -vs- EULA
,----[ Quote ]
| (EULA) ...if you spend some time reading it, you will understand that
| besides what the picture below shows, they (publishers) do not take any
| responsibility if something goes wrong while using their products and
| still care to charge us for their product and to ensure that it is the
| best. On top of that you will find some more "amazing" arguments that
| you never even knew and by clicking <accept>, well at least morally,
| agree to oblige)
`----
http://linux.wordpress.com/2006/10/04/at-a-glance-2-gpl-cddl-and-bsd-vs-eula/
Microsoft patent hints at pay-as-you-go OS
,----[ Quote ]
| A Microsoft patent application from June 2005, published only today,
| titled "System and method for delivery of a modular operating system"
| may signal a fundamental change for what an operating systems stands
| for and how it is sold.
`----
http://www.istartedsomething.com.nyud.net:8080/20061215/pay-as-you-go-os-patent/
Vista Starter ready for developing nations
,----[ Quote ]
| According to Wickstrand, the Windows XP Starter Edition was
| marketed primarily to consumers in Southeast Asia, Russia and
| India, with particular focus on families with school-age children
| and those who had purchased their first computer.
`----
http://news.com.com/2100-1016_3-6153667.html?part=rss&tag=2547-1_3-0-20&subj=news
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
Tough new rules on Vista "OEM"
,----[ Quote
| This marks the death of the popular once-off 'I'll take one hard drive
| and an OEM copy of Windows with that, thanks' flavour of
| OS-sundae.
|
| Microsoft has also tightened up the specific rules around what
| hardware an OEM copy of Windows can be sold with.
|
| Straight from the horse's mouth -- "spokesperson" at Microsoft
| Australia:
|
| "OEM versions of Windows Vista must be distributed to end-user
| with a fully assembled computer system and must be pre-installed."
|
| Dang!
|
| To make the matter even more complex, Microsoft says that even with a
| "transfer to a new PC as many times as you like" retail edition, you will
| only be allowed to transfer your licence for Vista to someone else once.
`----
http://apcmag.com/node/4347
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
Vista "upgrade" drops compliance checking, requires old OS to install
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft's quest to closely control the way Windows Vista can be used
| on PCs has taken a turn for the worse as new information indicates
| that the company is breaking tradition when it comes to Windows
| Vista upgrades.
|
| [...]
|
| A 'per device' obsession
|
| Microsoft has been adamant in recent years that Windows is licensed
| per device and not per person. One practical ramification of this
| viewpoint is that the company typically does not allow users to
| install one copy of Windows across multiple machines, even if
| only one machine is in use at a time.
`----
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070128-8717.html
Boycott The Windows Vista Release
,----[ Quote ]
| For reference, this is the list of features Microsoft says is added
| in Vista Ultimate
|
| * "Help protect against hardware failure"
| * "Business Networking and Remote Desktop"
| * "Better Protect Your Data"
|
| Hell, I've used the top two features in XP Professional so much I
| don't know what the heck I?d do without them, and better protect my
| data? YES PLEASE!
`----
http://www.nigelj.com/blog/2007/01/windows-vista-release/
Acer: Vista Home Basic is a lemon
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft is effectively smuggling through a price hike for Windows
| Vista - by making the entry-level version so poor that no-one will
| want to use it. So says Jim Wong, senior veep at Acer, the world's
| number four PC maker, who told UK hack Jon Honeyball: "The new
| [Vista] experience you hear of, if you get Basic, you won't feel
| it at all. There's no [Aero] graphics, no Media Center, no
| remote control."
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/10/27/acer_slams_vista_home_basic/
Vista Home Basic's half-baked bits
,----[ Quote ]
| More suspicious, of course, is that that Home Basic can't run the
| Aero Glass UI, even if the PC is suitably equipped with WDDM-supported
| graphics (this includes some integrated graphics chipsets, such as
| Intel's 945G/GM Express and Core 2 Duo 965 Express) and backed by
| enough RAM.
|
| [...]
|
| Yet three of Home Basic's components -- Backup, Mobility Centre and
| Meeting Space -- are present in an oddly stripped-down form which we
| expect will lead to confusion among people running different versions
| of Vista.
|
| [...]
|
| Another quirk of the cut-down Home Basic build is the Mobility Centre,
| which is intended to aggregate all notebook-centric features into a
| single control strip. Home Basic lists its version of the Mobility
| Centre as being 'limited', which doesn't say much.
`----
http://www.apcmag.com/4900/vista_home_basics_half_baked_bits
Microsoft Screws Students With Academic Licensing Package
,----[ Quote ]
| Now, to be honest, I am quite impressed with the options for Office
| 2007. What I'm focusing on, is the fact that Microsoft plan to
| distribute Vista "Home Premium" as Academic software instead of
| Vista "Ultimate" edition. Why is this? It's because even though
| it's an "Upgrade" version, it doesn't facilitate upgrades from the
| previous Academic release!
|
| Conspiracy? I think so!
`----
http://www.nigelj.com/blog/2007/01/microsoft-screws-students-with-academic-licensing-package/
http://tinyurl.com/yxy7jo
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