La plupart d’entre vous savez déjà probablement une des raisons pourquoi j’ai quitté Windows… Aujourd’hui, je suis paresseux, alors je vous cite un gros extrait de GROKLAW:
Résumé de l’article pour les paresseux ou pour ceux qui se débrouillent mal en anglais: plus le temps avance et plus Microsoft accroît son pouvoir sur vous, à travers des tactiques de déception (le bon vieux Contrat License Utilisateur Final incompréhensible si on ne fait pas partie du barreau). Le problème, c’est que rien n’arrête Microsoft en ce moment et qu’ils resserrent leur poigne sur les utilisateurs en fouillant leurs ordinateurs de fond en comble. Et ça va empirer avec Vista, vous pouvez en être sûr.
4. PRE-RELEASE SOFTWARE. This software is a pre-release version. It may not work the way a final version of the software will. We may change it for the final, commercial version. We also may not release a commercial version.
Now, it’s on your computer, half way already, and apparently you can’t uninstall it, so if Microsoft changes it for a final commercial version, what happens to you? Do you then have to pay for it? Do you get any choice? Speaking of which, let’s look at clause 6:
6. Scope of License. The software is licensed, not sold. This agreement only gives you some rights to use the software. Microsoft reserves all other rights. Unless applicable law gives you more rights despite this limitation, you may use the software only as expressly permitted in this agreement. In doing so, you must comply with any technical limitations in the software that only allow you to use it in certain ways. You may not
- disclose the results of any benchmark tests of the software to any third party without Microsoft’s prior written approval;
- work around any technical limitations in the software;
- reverse engineer, decompile or disassemble the software, except and only to the extent that applicable law expressly permits, despite this limitation;
- make more copies of the software than specified in this agreement or allowed by applicable law, despite this limitation;
- publish the software for others to copy;
- rent, lease or lend the software;
- transfer the software or this agreement to any third party; or
- use the software for commercial software hosting services.
You have been given a vision of the future, where software will be a service, and all you get is a license to use it the way they allow you to use it. How do you like Microsoft’s Brave New World?
Surely they will find a way to check that you are complying with all the above, so I think it’s clear that if you stay with Microsoft products, you have to agree to share your computer with them, that your privacy will be in their hands, and that they can control your computer without your say so. And they won’t necessarily tell you clearly what they are doing, judging by this incident, or perhaps there will be no notice at all, as mentioned in the EULA. It’s not about you buying a product and using it any way you wish. They let you use their software only within strict limitations they set which by the way do not conform to your rights under Copyright Law. This is a license, a kind of contract, whereby you waive rights you would otherwise have in order to use their software. And you are presented with a EULA at least one paralegal can’t even understand, too late to say no in a meaningful way.
Is that your only choice? This unintentionally funny article “Windows anti-piracy program causes shock for doing its job,” says Microsoft has been “pretty upfront about the WGA program,” and if we don’t like it, we should switch to Linux. That’s a very good idea. You could use GPL software instead. It doesn’t care how you use it. Share it, lend it, rent it, install it on as many computers as you wish, write about it, test it, transfer it to a third party, work around any technical limitations of the software, improve it, personalize it to make it do what you want it to do, and use it for commercial services. Do all of the above and you still haven’t violated the software license, and by the way, the software is yours. You own it. No one has a need or even a right to check to see if you are using it properly or if you have the right license or if you swapped in a new hard drive or where you live or what your IP address is. Think about it. And then ask yourself, which do I prefer?
The world is at a crossroads, where for the first time there really is a choice. You don’t have to accept Microsoft’s demeaning and insulting EULA terms. If you are a business, do you want Microsoft having free access to your computer? If you are a government? I’m just an individual, and I don’t. If you wish to remove the Windows Genuine Advantage tools, and I expect most of you do, why not go the whole hog and remove the entire software package, replace it with GNU/Linux, and find out what it feels like to be treated with respect and to breathe free?
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