There are several snags in this plan of yours.I work for a mostly-M$ shop, which happens to have an MSDN site license, and so Connectix is free to me (funny how M$'s M&As can work for you...). A small (~1-man) shop can purchase such a license, just for the MSDN Library, for $2K or so, and use any M$ product for a few years before M$ requires an audit. During that time period, it's perfectly legal to install a million instances of Connectix or Office or whatever. When the scheduled audit arrives, you can choose if you want to continue using those products (and upgrade the license, which will cost much more...), or just uninstall all to-be-illegal software. A nice loophole we have here.
Shachar.
A. Up until this email of yours, I wasn't aware of the fact that I can get Connectix through MSDN. This is particularily troubling as I have paid good money for both VMWare and MSDN Universal. Upon inspection I could not find Connectix in my DVD collection, but could find it in their subscribers download section. I'm now wondering what else I have paid for but have not received.
B. There is no need to stop using the products when the audit arrives. The MSDN license is not revoked when the year is up. All that happens is that updates stop arriving. I am not sure how this will cooperate with product activation - I have so far avoided doing activation for all products I installed. MS practically begs you not to activate an MSDN installed product unless you really have to, and that is one recommendation I'm going to follow.
In any case, there is no need for me to regret buying VMWare. Like I mentioned before, the free alternatives are not up to par (more's the pitty), and connectix doesn't run on my choice of host system.
Shachar
-- Shachar Shemesh Open Source integration consultant Home page & resume - http://www.shemesh.biz/
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