TABLE OF CONTENTS This appendix was written by Scott Granneman, a monthly colummist for both SecurityFocus and Linux Magazine. He comments on various problematic clauses in Vista s EULA that he first addressed in his columm titled Surprises Inside Microsoft Vista s EULA, which he wrote for SecurityFocus in October 2006. He also addresses the Vista EULA s restrictions on benchmark testing, virtualization, and Digital Rights Management (DRM).
Even though precious few users actually read it, Microsoft s End User License Agreement (EULA) has actually always been both incredibly important and problematic at the same time. Important because it governs what users may and may not do with the operating system (OS) that so many people around the world buy uh, license, and problematic because many of the stipulations in the EULA are troublesome in the powers they grant Microsoft.
Anyone who s familiar with Microsoft s past EULAs knows about the controversial clauses present long before Vista, and Vista s EULAs contain them as well. The piece of the EULA promising that if you disagree with the license, just go ahead and return it to the retailer for a refund a fruitless process that ends up leading the person seeking the refund on an endless round of phone calls between computer manufacturers and Microsoft, each insisting that it is the responsibility of the other party to pay up is right in the beginning, just as in past EULAs. Mandatory activation, guaranteeing that at least some people will get stuck when their copy of Windows...
