This is the mail archive of the cygwin@cygwin.com mailing list for the Cygwin project.


Index Nav: [Date Index] [Subject Index] [Author Index] [Thread Index]
Message Nav: [Date Prev] [Date Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next]
Other format: [Raw text]

Re: Is Cygwin legal under Windows XP?


Elizabeth,

Most commercial, non-open-source software is not sold outright, only the 
right to use it is.

While it's true that not all contracts and license agreements are legal and 
/ or enforceable, if you agreed to it, which you had to do to accomplish 
installation, then unless you bring some legal action, you're bound by it.

Sure, the computer is yours to do with as you please, but applications that 
run under an operating system are not self-contained and do not stand 
alone--they make use of the OS. An apt analogy might be a rental agreement 
between a tenant and a landlord. Both parties have some rights, and the 
landlord's rights include the right to place certain restrictions on what 
the tenants may do within the rented property.

I am not a lawyer (with all that implies about the foregoing), but in many 
ways, the law has a logic of its own. It happens to be a logic that often 
seems confusing or even bewildering to lay people and most especially to 
very logicall types such as engineers and scientists, but that's how it is.

I know one thing, I'll never switch to XP. The thought of entering into a 
subscription relationship with Microsoft for something as critical as the 
OS on which I rely so heavily is simply unacceptable to me. When I move on 
from Windows 2000 for whatever reason, it'll be to Linux (or Darwin, 
Solaris, *BSD or possibly even MacOS on suitable hardware). Frankly, I'll 
be happy to turn my back on MS operating systems. Were it not for a former 
employer's demands (and Cygwin), I wouldn't be using Windows in the first 
place.

Randall Schulz
Mountain View, CA US


At 18:04 2002-04-21, Elizabeth Barham wrote:
>This whole thing seems kind of iffy in regards to Microsoft's position. 
>While Microsoft has some authority, consumers do too and Windows XP's EULA 
>may violate some consumer rights (I don't know of any off hand, though). 
>But even if it doesn't violate any at the moment, it violates what I 
>consider my own "consumer rights" - I have the right to run any program I 
>want to on any computer I own, including Microsoft Operating Systems.
>
>And what is this EULA anyway? If I purchase software, do I or do I not own 
>the software? And can I or can I not do anything I want to with it - I 
>mean, it's mine and they sold it to me. Or am I "leasing" the software 
>from someone?
>
>It's one thing for an EULA to say, "You may have one copy of this piece of 
>software running on at most one computer at any time," but another thing 
>for it to say what I can use the software for.
>
>Elizabeth


--
Unsubscribe info:      http://cygwin.com/ml/#unsubscribe-simple
Bug reporting:         http://cygwin.com/bugs.html
Documentation:         http://cygwin.com/docs.html
FAQ:                   http://cygwin.com/faq/


Index Nav: [Date Index] [Subject Index] [Author Index] [Thread Index]
Message Nav: [Date Prev] [Date Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next]