Why do you say that?
Because of how copyright works, if a file isn't yours, you need a written permission to prove that you have the right to use it/redistribute it, or the copyright holder can claim that the use/redistribution of the file is unauthorized.
I'd like to see the legal text that says they are not redistributable,
The microsoft windows (Favourite version of 32-bit windows here) license
as they are intended to be shipped alongside applications
IIRC you need a M$ development tool to obtain a license that allows you to do that. Also, such license only allows use for applications designed for microsoft windows. AFAIK wine is not a windows app.
and can be freely downloaded from the net
M$ is free to sue anybody that violates it's copyright, and claiming that other people have violated M$ copyright has never (And will never) save anybody in court. They can choose to sue you and not dll-files.
(ie the situation is no different to the current one).
It is, IE is not an app but a OS component, so there are a lot more restrictions on IE than on anything else. A solution would be to ask the user to insert his windows CD, and just get the files needed for IE installation from there.
Maybe, but they'd have to sue me. Given that there are people running websites that ship practically every DLL on a windows system, that would not make much sense.
Those websites are online to help windows users, winehq is online to get windows users to unix+wine BTW they already CAN sue you.
They'd also have a hard time arguing that the MSVC Runtime is not meant to be redistributed when many apps do so.
No, it would be very easy for them to prove that all vendors that ship MSVCRT with there apps have a license from microsoft to do so.
Ivan.
On Tue, 2003-12-23 at 20:24, Ivan Leo Murray-Smith wrote:
I'd like to see the legal text that says they are not redistributable,
The microsoft windows (Favourite version of 32-bit windows here) license
MSVCRT40/MFC40 aren't components of windows though, they are redistributable DLLs that come with apps.
IIRC you need a M$ development tool to obtain a license that allows you to do that. Also, such license only allows use for applications designed for microsoft windows. AFAIK wine is not a windows app.
Well, I'm pretty sure that sort of clause would be illegal, they can't say "such and such can only be run on Windows", as that'd be tying a product to a monopoly.
If they start claiming that the MFC DLL can only be used on genuine Windows, then we have much bigger problems than having to pull a convenience script - that would make many programs unrunnable on Wine (but of course they cannot say this, so that's not a problem).
It is, IE is not an app but a OS component, so there are a lot more restrictions on IE than on anything else. A solution would be to ask the user to insert his windows CD, and just get the files needed for IE installation from there.
Well this is what Microsoft claim, but the distinction has never really been spelled out. MSN Messenger comes with Windows too - does that make it an OS component? I'm not sure.
I'm not even sure if a Windows CD has these dlls, as they are intended to be distributed by apps. It might do, and then yes inserting the CD would be one solution.
BTW they already CAN sue you.
Sure, they can sue me anytime for practically anything and I'd probably be instantly bankrupt just getting to court, so this whole discussion is somewhat academic.
No, it would be very easy for them to prove that all vendors that ship MSVCRT with there apps have a license from microsoft to do so.
I have an old copy of MSVC++ lying around here somewhere anyway, so I guess I do have a license. If I can't find it then buying a new one from ebay or something is not too hard.
The easiest solution is to simply use wget to fetch the files from dll-files.com : a very silly getout clause that probably wouldn't make much difference in a court of law, but hopefully we will never have to find out.
thanks -mike
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Ivan Leo Murray-Smith -
Mike Hearn