Home Editions Of Windows Vista Won't Run On Mac Or Linux Virtual Machines

[Chad Leigh]

On Feb 2, 2007, at 3:35 PM, Shawn Erickson wrote:

> On 2/2/07, Chad Leigh <chad at objectwerks.com> wrote:
>
>> I'd like to read the actual EULA.  The EULA that was posted for VIsta
>> last Fall did not actually say that.  It said that you could not boot
>> it in emulated environments running under Vista.
>
> Actually what is said didn't clearly state that... it left a lot open
> to interpretation and only when favoring a liberal interpretation of
> the EULA could you read it they way as you stated.


It was pretty clear that you couldn't run it in a virtual machine  
running on the "licensed device."  The "licensed device" was defined  
as the machine that Vista was installed on.  Since my Mac running OS  
X does not run Vista, it cannot be considered the "licensed device."

Notwithstanding any clarifications MS may have made outside of the  
EULA, the text of the EULA is what matters and things revolve around  
precise definitions in a court of law.

Indeed, a commentary from MS when it first came out was that the  
reason for this was to stop people from re-using the license to run  
multiple copies under VM on one Vista machine.

So, at least as it read when released, they could not claim you were  
not allowed to do it if the VM was on Linux or Mac OS (maybe if the  
Linux machine or Mac OS X machine also had Vista installed directly  
on the HD in a bootcamp/dual boot type of situation you might be able  
to make a MS case) since their EULA was very specific.  They may have  
upgraded the EULA for the release and have worded it differently, I  
have not checked.

IANAL and all that
IANALAIDPOOTV too

Chad