From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.3 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,INVALID_MSGID autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,faf964ea4531e6af X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-Thread: 1025b4,43ae7f61992b3213 X-Google-Attributes: gid1025b4,public From: Ed Avis Subject: Re: GPL and "free" software Date: 1999/05/04 Message-ID: <372F2DA8.FF6F27F9@doc.ic.ac.uk>#1/1 X-Deja-AN: 473984434 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit References: <7fibd5$jc7$1@news2.tor.accglobal.net> <372A07FE.47AD7982@doc.ic.ac.uk> <7gdd9e$36l$1@flotsam.uits.indiana.edu> <7gdln1$vna$1@jetsam.uits.indiana.edu> <372ADFBD.4F4C241B@doc.ic.ac.uk> <372E3C51.47FA3994@iiinet.dhs.org> Organization: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Mime-Version: 1.0 Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada,gnu.misc.discuss Date: 1999-05-04T00:00:00+00:00 List-Id: Joshua E. Rodd wrote: >>But the licenses on many of their own software explicitly prohibit you >>to try running their software on, say, something like Wine. >If you signed a contract with Microsoft that you would not run >Intercal Explorer under Wine, that would be different. But not >signatures are exchanged when retreiving Intercal Explorer 5 >beta 1.002. >Microsoft *probably* wouldn't bring a civil suit against someone >running IE in Wine, either. I think you are missing the point here. Firstly, laws such as the DMCA will make 'click-through' licences legally binding. Secondly, even though the agreement may not be legally binding, there is still dishonour involved in breaking it. (Not to say that I don't break licence agreements myself, of course.) Thirdly, most companies and institutions take care to comply with licence agreements on software; whether they do this out of charity towards Microsoft, or because their lawyers have warned them that the EULAs do have some legal force, I don't know. But the point is, just because a few people on gnu.misc.discuss may claim that EULAs are not legally binding, that doesn't mean that the rest of the world will suddenly realize their mistakes and start breaking licences with impunity. For many people, Microsoft's restrictions on where you can run IE _do_ need to be complied with, whether or not they are actually legally valid. -- Ed Avis Advertise here! epa98@doc.ic.ac.uk