[TriLUG] rdesktop any good?

[Michael Kimsal]

FWIW - way off topic now, but still on topic - I explicitly reinstalled a
'pirate' copy of XP in to vmware on my linux laptop last year.  I did this
because after 6 months of using XP on my laptop (bought new from BestBuy) XP
quit working.  The XP partition came up with a screen telling me I had to
reinstall or insert the original install disk.  Since I don't *have* an
install disk (only a restore) disk, I had lost the use of XP on that
machine.  Putting XP in vmware on linux on the same machine might be a
technical/legal violation, but seems morally justified imo.  Perhaps someone
at the BSA will sue me now for revealing this info in a post?  ;)


On Wed, Mar 19, 2008 at 3:37 PM, Justis Peters <jtrilug at indythinker.com>
wrote:

> Tim Jowers wrote:
> >   I suspect that license is not enforceable and a clear example of bait
> and
> > switch as Circuit City and other vendors did not advertise nor state
> this
> > arrangement upon selling a machine with Windows XP. This would probably
> be a
> > hugely profitable class action for a lawyer. At least a potential payoff
> in
> > the 100's of millions. Of course, if nobody opposes and illegal activity
> > then a major company will continue it.
> >
> Tim,
>
> I suspect that OEM bundled licenses are very enforceable.  The OEM
> bought a license that gives them the right to use this as the operating
> system for a single piece of hardware.  They sold you that piece of
> hardware but did not necessarily sell you a license to install that
> software anywhere else.  They also provided you with back up media, in
> case your hard drive goes wonky.  That's back up media, mind you, not
> install media.  The wording is important.
>
> Circuit City did not do any sort of bait-and-switch.  They just said
> that your machine comes with Windows XP installed.  They didn't claim
> they were selling you Windows XP, with a computer being the packaging
> medium.  It's fair.  It might not be the way I want it to be, but it's
> fair and is probably very legal.
>
> There is almost certainly precedent somewhere that shows that this
> licensing stands up in court.  Hasn't Microsoft sued a time or two over
> OEM license violations?  I doubt they'd bother going after individuals,
> but they've at least got written precedent to substantiate their case.
> If anybody tried to bring a class action suit about this, it would
> probably get shot down very quickly.
>
> The easier solution to the problem at hand is to make freely
> distributable software a more viable candidate for use at an average
> desk.  Solve it from the grassroots, not in the state and federal
> courts.  Only fight at those levels when there's a battle that can be won.
>
> Besides, the new frontier is the migration of applications from your
> desktop to the web.  We should be paying far more attention to trends in
> user rights at that level.
>
> Kind regards,
> Justis Peters
>
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-- 
Michael Kimsal
http://michaelkimsal.com
919-455-8488