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[Discuss] MS licensing and Wine (was: Discuss Digest, Vol 79, Issue 6)
- Subject: [Discuss] MS licensing and Wine (was: Discuss Digest, Vol 79, Issue 6)
- From: mark at buttery.org (Shirley Márquez Dúlcey)
- Date: Tue, 12 Dec 2017 05:30:12 -0500
- In-reply-to: <87374g1djj.fsf@hobgoblin.ariadne.com>
- References: <mailman.18289.1513055762.10503.discuss@blu.org> <87374g1djj.fsf@hobgoblin.ariadne.com>
Correct. The only Windows licenses that come with any virtual machine rights are full retail licenses (either one bare metal copy or one in a VM) and enterprise licenses (various VM rights can be bought for those). OEM and System Builder licenses (the two kinds that usually come with computers) convey no right to run them in a VM, not even on the computer they came with. There was also the special case of Windows 7 Professional (OEM, System Builder, or retail), which came with the right to run a copy of XP mode under it - in other words, a single virtualized copy of the 32 bit version of Windows XP. (You didn't even have to own a previous copy of XP; it downloaded when you set up XP mode.) OEM licenses are the ones that come through agreements with large computer manufacturers: Dell, HP, etc. System Builder licenses are available for smaller manufacturers to buy and pass along to customers; that's usually what will come with a computer from a "white box" seller. (Some stores like Micro Center refer to System Builder copies as OEM copies on their web sites or in their stores.) The System Builder license technically doesn't even let you use it to build a system for yourself, though that is widely ignored by personal builders because it is significantly cheaper than a full retail license. Or at least it used to be; the spread is now only $10 for Windows 10 Home but is still $60 for Professional. (The version of the System Builder license for Windows 8 DID allow you to build a personal system, but the Windows 7 and Windows 10 versions do not.) It's really all a mess. Microsoft should do away with the distinction between System Builder and retail copies and just sell both of them at the lower price. They sell very few of the retail ones so they wouldn't be leaving much money on the table, and it would eliminate a bunch of confusion about what people are allowed to do with their software. On Tue, Dec 12, 2017 at 4:49 AM, Dale R. Worley <worley at alum.mit.edu> wrote: > Shirley M?rquez D?lcey <mark at buttery.org> writes: >> The catch is licensing. The Windows license that came with your >> computer doesn't cover running it in a virtual machine. You'll have to >> buy a full retail license to do that legally. > > Interesting! So the standard with-a-new-computer license *doesn't* have > the "and one VM on the same hardware" provision that (I have been told) > a "real" license does? > > There's also the question of how MS Word is licensed. > > Are there versions of Wine (or whatever it's called now) that work well? > That is, has someone here used it and can vouch that it Just Works... > > Dale > _______________________________________________ > Discuss mailing list > Discuss at blu.org > http://lists.blu.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
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- [Discuss] MS licensing and Wine (was: Discuss Digest, Vol 79, Issue 6)
- From: worley at alum.mit.edu (Dale R. Worley)
- [Discuss] MS licensing and Wine (was: Discuss Digest, Vol 79, Issue 6)
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