On Sun, 20 Sep 1998, Wojciech Zabolotny wrote:
> On Tue, 15 Sep 1998, Paul M. Foster wrote: > > On Mon, 14 Sep 1998, Geoffrey L. Brimhall wrote: > > > Aside from the technical issues of having Linux use windows device drivers > > > (such as the video card drivers), are there any legal reasons why a person > > > could not use the device drivers written for the MS Windows operating > > > system ? > > > > I suspect there *is* a legal issue here. If you buy MS Windows, you > > install the device drivers on your system as part of the software. (I > > haven't checked MS's license, but they may have a license like "You can > > use it, but we still own it.") But the software is still part of the > > Windows operating system. I don't think you can go out and program your > > own "Windows clone" operating system and then use a bunch of Windows > > drivers off their distribution. Microsoft would be understandably irate > > about this. And even if it wasn't a legal issue, if Microsoft wanted to > > hassle you about it, you'd be just as beat up as if they'd sued you. > > > > So what about using MS-DOS drivers with FreeDos (http://www.freedos.org)? > Same answer. If you bought a copy of Windows and you use the drivers off *that* copy of Windows somewhere (anywhere), you're probably covered. On the other hand, if you make multiple copies of those drivers and ship them with your new nifty-cosmic all-in-one operating system you just programmed, now you're in trouble. <BUTT-COVERING> Of course, since I'm not a lawyer, I could be all wrong. </BUTT-COVERING> Paul M. Foster
