VFP EULA - Mac/Linux with Wine

[Nigel Gomm]

What's the latest with this? Any recent developments i missed?

More and more of my customers have Macs and the RDP licences add to my costs.

A VM, i know, is probably the better option but just wondering if anyone has had any any legal advice or even is running a VFP .exe on a Mac under Wine in a production environment.

n

 

[Mike Gagnon]

I have installed VFP on wine (+linux) in the past and it works, but have yet to see any articles on the subject other than the original from Paul McNett (How to install it) and the article from Mr. Hentzenwerke relating a warning from Microsoft not to do his presentation on the subject, and the 'vague' ULA about the topic. Since about 2004, there has been nothing else.



If you want to get the best response to a question, please check out FAQ184-2483 first.

 

[Mike Lewis]

I remember the issue that Whil Hentzen had with running VFP on a non-Windows system. In his case, it was Wine, under Linux, but the same factors might apply.

Whil was just about to give a talk to a user group on how to run VFP under Wine when he received a phone call from Microsoft's lawyers threatening him with legal action if he went ahead with the talk. So, at the last minute, he was forced to withdraw. I think he also withdrew some articles on the subject, and possibly a book (I'm writing this from memory, so might be wrong).

As far as I know, the issue was never fully resolved. Keep in mind that that was quite a few years ago now, when Microsoft was more active in developing and marketing VFP than they are now. I don't know if this would be relevant to your clients, Nigel, but I thought I would mention it.

Mike

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Mike Lewis (Edinburgh, Scotland)

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[StefanFoerner]

Hi Nigel,

take a look at Crossover from codeweavers.com, which is based on wine:

[URL unfurl="true"]https://www.codeweavers.com/[/url]

Crossover is the absolutely comfortable version of wine !!!


CodeWeavers Licensing Questions:

[URL unfurl="true"]https://www.codeweavers.com/store/licensing[/url]

search for CrossOver and Microsoft:

Q. Can Microsoft sue CodeWeavers or its customers for copyright infringement or reverse engineering, either for Windows or its Windows applications such as Microsoft Office?

A. No. The underlying technology utilized by CodeWeavers to enable Windows software to run under Linux is an open-source technology called Wine. Wine has been developed completely independently, with no reverse engineering and no access to Microsoft source code. The Wine source tree, with a complete revision history since the inception of the project, is freely available to the public, and demonstrates that Wine is strictly separate from Microsoft's proprietary code base.

Q. Can Microsoft prevent CodeWeavers' customers from running Microsoft applications on Linux?

A. No. Microsoft's end-user licenses do not preclude operating their applications under other operating systems. Were Microsoft to attempt to prohibit such usage, by requiring that Microsoft products be run only on the Windows OS, they would be in violation of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. The Sherman Act precludes making the usage of a non-monopoly product dependent on the purchase of a monopoly product. Microsoft has been convicted of monopolistic practices under the Sherman Act regarding their operating systems. As a result, they cannot legally make the Windows OS a prerequisite for running a Windows software application.


Wine is no problem at all !!!

PS: with Crossover You can run Windows Applications on MAC too !!!

Regards, Stefan

 

[Nigel Gomm]

Stefan,

i am looking at crossover as it happens.... at present i'm getting errors trying to use ODBC but they are looking into it.

Has your second point been tested in court anywhere... particularly in UK (where Sherman act would not apply)?
Wine is ok to run windows applications (such as word and even VFP) but the thing about the VFP8/9 EULA was that it sought to prevent applications built using VFP from being run on a non-windows OS - and that's quite different.
Someone somewhere (can't find it now) pointed out that the actual wording was along the lines of 'not distribute any Distributable Code that runs on any platform other than the Windows platform' and that, yes, the application runs on and is intended for windows ... but some customers are using it on a MAC.

Mike,
yes, i remember the kerfuffle regarding Whil's presentation... just wondering if anything had been resolved since. I take it you don't know of anyone in UK running VFP+Wine in production?

n

 

[Mike Lewis]

Nigel,

Has your second point been tested in court anywhere.

No, not as far as I know. Personally, I think these kind of provisions (not allowing you to run a Microsoft product on a non-Microsoft operating system) would be difficult to enforce in law. After all, any such condition has to be based on a contract, which by definition requires a willing buyer and a willing seller. If the buyer didn't know - and had no reason to assume - that the provision existed at the point of purchase, it's hard to see how he can be held to have agreed to it.

As for the Sherman anti-trust legislation, that's something from the USA (how well I remember learning about it in my US History class). In fact, I think the EU anti-trust legislation is stronger than in the US. But I don't see how that would be relevant in this case, although I'm definitely not an expert.

Sorry I can't give you a more definitive answer. (And no, I don't know anyone in the UK doing this under Wine.)

Mike

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Mike Lewis (Edinburgh, Scotland)

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