Parallels/Boot Camp questions

[Dave Schroeder]

On Dec 3, 2006, at 3:53 PM, Matt Johnston wrote:

>
> On 3 Dec 2006, at 19:23, David Zhou wrote:
>
>> But AFAIK, the Windows license allows VMs, so it's possible to  
>> active twice with the same copy of XP.
>
> Didn't Vista remove this? For all but Premium?

It's much more complicated than this. Also, there is no such thing as  
"Vista Premium"; there is "Vista Home Premium", which also doesn't  
allow virtualization. There are actually several versions of Vista  
that allow virtualization. Activation, in this context, and  
virtualization are unrelated.

Windows XP (all versions) can legally be used in a VM. Since Windows  
typically allows you to activate using the same code more than once  
(until you hit some limit, at which point you have to call Microsoft  
to get it "okayed"), the new Parallels Boot Camp functionality will  
require retail Windows XP users to activate once under Boot Camp, and  
activate again under Parallels.

Vista's EULA, on the other hand, prohibits VM usage for Vista Home  
Basic and Home Premium. There is NOTHING technical stopping it from  
being used; it's purely an artificial EULA restriction, and really  
one from more of a support context than anything: Microsoft doesn't  
want people buying lower-end retail versions of Vista and then having  
to support them (since Microsoft, as opposed to PC OEMs, provides  
support for retail Vista). Also, Vista Home Basic and Home Premium  
can be "legally" used in a VM if obtained for purposes of development  
and testing via MSDN (the Microsoft Developer Network).

Higher versions of Vista not only allow virtualization, but some  
actually include additional licenses allowing that same instance of  
the OS to be used for virtualization simultaneously. This means that  
if someone is running one of these versions of Vista on a physical PC  
and *also* wants to virtualize it (easy now that Microsoft Virtual PC  
for Windows is now free), they can run that same copy of the OS on  
the physical hardware and in VMs at the same time, legally. Of  
course, these are *technically* the only versions of Vista that allow  
any virtualization usage at all (via the EULA; remember, nothing  
technical prevents VM usage of any version of Vista, and activation  
doesn't change anything fundamentally).

The versions of Vista that DO NOT allow virtualization via the EULA  
(but do if used in the context of MSDN):

- Vista Home Basic
- Vista Home Premium

The versions of Vista that DO allow virtualization, including  
simultaneous native and VM usage:

- Vista Business
- Vista Enterprise
- Vista Ultimate

More info:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/getready/editions/
http://www.zdnetasia.com/news/software/0,39044164,61969665,00.htm

- Dave
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