VMWare / Wine

[Dave Grundgeiger]

>> Jeffrey F. Bloss wrote:
>>> In short, if a piece of software lists "Microsoft Windows xxxx" as a
>>> requirement, like almost every piece of Windows software does, it
>>> implies a *legally owned* copy of that software. It doesn't even have
>>> to be installed, IOW Wine is "legal" (the reason the topic came up), but
>>> to run almost any Windows software legally requires ownership of a
>>> Microsoft Windows license more current than Windows 95.

> Dave Grundgeiger wrote:
>> So, if a piece of software says "512MB minimum RAM" as a requirement and 
>> I
>> run it in 256MB, then I'm running it illegally?

Duncan Lithgow wrote:
> There is a difference between the text of an EULA and a
> manual/readme/system requirements specifying what hardware/software
> you'll 'require' for it to run.

The latter is what I took Jeffery to mean, as I don't recall ever seeing the 
operating system specified in an application's EULA (though I don't ever do 
more than skim them).

I found a page on Microsoft's site called "Find License Terms for Software 
Licensed from Microsoft" 
(http://www.microsoft.com/about/legal/useterms/default.aspx). I looked at 
the license terms for Office 2007 and SharePoint Portal Server 2003 just to 
pick two. A text search didn't find the word "Windows" in either license.

Dave