Re: [seul-edu] Legal questions [was Re: They changed the site! ( was Re: [OS:N:] Donated PCs)

[Ed Lawson <elawson@lawson-philpot.com>]

On Fri, 3 May 2002 10:00:17 -0700
tom poe <tompoe@renonevada.net> wrote:

>  Until they point to a specific law that states 
> unequivocally that there is a legal requirement, etc., their statement is 
> FALSE. 

Perhaps this type of logic get points in debate competition, but I doubt anywhere else.
The  issue is not whether there is a law somewhere "that states unequivocally". Don't even think laws tend to state anything unequivocally.  That is why people go to Law School. The issue is what is required by the MS EULA.  Read the EULA.  I believe it says the software can only be used on the machine with which it was purchased.  If the OS is upgraded, the original software license melts with the upgrade and you still only have one license and it must be used with the original machine.

None of which means a person cannot donate a machine without an OS.  I will leave to others to impute motives in making statements which imply the MS EULA requires the original licensed OS to go with a donated machine.  The answer is yes it must if the machine is donated with the same or an upgrade version of the same MS OS on the machine when first purchased.  MS assumes, naturally, that the donated computer is an Intel box and has a MS OS on it.  Its statement makes sense when those assumptions are made and assuming people visiting the MS website are looking for information about Intel boxes with an MS OS is not irrational.

What is irrational is the willingness of others to think the statments are ones of general application concerning donated computers and to repeat them as such.

Ed Lawson
BTW, I am a lawyer and I have some familiarity with the copyright laws and software licensing