Peter Thoenen wrote: > No..it would be a virus if it didn't warn you and you didn't intentially > install it. If you don't like what they are doing, don't install it, > Bill doesnt' have a gun to your head. Nobody is forcing you and I bet > you (IANAL) that it is perfectly legal. This is much the same way the > FrontpageXP warns you that by installing it, you give m$ permission to > unistall ANY software on your box they wish. Needless to say, I don't > agree, so I didn't install it. Nothing illegal about it though, its a > TOS agreement. And I think this thread boils down to what can one get away with by telling the victim what you will do to them in the EULA. We're not likely to settle any moral or legal questions on that subject here (unless someone would like to write an essay on the laws of software, ala Asimov's laws of robotics.) Right now (at least in the US), the assumption is that if it's not otherwise illegal, you can require it in a EULA. So, my license probably couldn't require you to perform sexual acts, because that would be prostitution. I could require that you come clean my house in a french maid outfit, though. (I won't be having any such clauses in my EULAs, I've seen what some of you people look like.) This will never be settled until there have been some court cases that define what is permissible. If you really want to accelerate the process, write a popular piece of software which license requires that the user remove all Microsoft software from their system, and never use it again. Enforce it programatically. Make a Windows version. BB
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Tue May 28 2002 - 12:21:52 PDT