[There's a reason that Yoda is the unofficial mascot of SBS. Size indeed matters not.] Virtualizing licensing relaxed - THE OFFICIAL BLOG OF THE SBS DIVA
Mon, Jan 21 2008 19:13 bradley

Virtualizing licensing relaxed

» Microsoft (finally) broadens Windows Vista virtualization rules | All about Microsoft | ZDNet.com:
http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=1122

Good, I'm not in violation of licensing anymore as I've been virtualizing Vista home premium for patch testing for a while now.

(I guess it's okay to admit that in public now?)

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# re: Virtualizing licensing relaxed

Monday, January 21, 2008 10:32 PM by Chris Knight

No, it's never a good time to announce licensing violations.

Though to be honest it can be exceptionally difficult - especially with MS product - to know exactly how you're to use the software in a compliant manner. The eyes can very quickly glaze over when reading most EULAs.

The virtualisation relaxation I'd like to see is being able to run the XP/Vista licenses in the Action Pack under virtualisation. As they're upgrade licenses, the only way I can see to do this is by having retail OS licenses to assign to the VM prior to the Action Pack XP/Vista use.

# re: Virtualizing licensing relaxed

Monday, January 21, 2008 10:33 PM by indy

Of course it's OK.  Just be aware that if you admit to breaking this license flub the assumption is that you are breaking other licensing.  Which is fine.  As a proponent of SBS, you should be proud of your pirate roots!

# re: Virtualizing licensing relaxed

Tuesday, January 22, 2008 8:49 AM by Roger

Chris: I've always thought that parts of the EULA are intentionally vague. That way MS can interpret them as situations warrant.

Case in point: I setup a test machine with Win2k3 64 bit, Virtual Server 05 64bit for testing. Installed SQL Server 2005 Dev edition on host for application testing. Set up several VM's to duplicate a client's environment for testing. All from MSDN subscriptions. Nothing for my own business is running on this box. Have I violated a EULA? By my reading, maybe, maybe not.