Hi David, A friend of mine bought such a 'hybrid' drive a while ago, and wondered about the rediculous licencing terms as well. He sent a letter to the European Commission antitrust department to question about this.
It appeared more people were confused by the text, and both Microsoft and Samsung have explained that the terms mean, that if you use a different operating system than Windows with this drive, you need to get the appropriate license to use said different operating system. If you want to use an operating system owned by Microsoft with it, you have to get a license from them; if the operating system is not owned by Microsoft, you don't need to get a license from Microsoft. Still, the text is highly confusing though. Regards, Jochem On Mon, May 04, 2009 at 10:43:43AM +0800, David Schulz wrote: > Hello there, > > today i bought a Samsung Laptop Drive, 160GB, Model Number is HM160HC. > It came in a anti-static plastic bag together with a little leaflet. > Usually i don't read those, but today i did, and came across the > following paragraph: > > "Hybrid Disk Drive products are licensed for use only on devices that > deploy the Windows VISTA Operating System as their principal operating > System. If you or any other party install(s) an operating system on the > computing device that is not Windows Vista, the use of this Hybrid Disk > Drive may require an additional license from Microsoft. > For further information, please contact Microsoft." > > Hybrid Disk Drives contain an Area of Flash Memory that help Windows to > boot faster. They are mentioned here: > > http://thefutureofthings.com/articles.php?itemId=30/59/ > http://www.engadget.com/2007/03/07/samsungs-hybrid-hard-drive-hhd-released-to-oems/ > http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=264209 > > Now, i checked everywhere, and it seems that my HM160HC Drive is not a > Hybrid Disk Drive, but i am not quite sure. Maybe they throw in the same > little leaflet into all their Drives Packagings. > > Should it not say on the outside Packaging if i am only allowed to > install certain pieces of Software on it, and no others? I would never > buy such a Product if i knew. Its not clear whether this Drive is or is > not affected by that license paragraph after looking on their Website. > > Before, when i went to buy a new Laptop, i would simply check whether > there was enough Support for my favorite OS, but now it seems, i also > must check that the license of certain Components do not bind me to a > certain Operating System. I think they need a Sticker with 'Windows > only' or so, so Consumers see what they buy. > > Anyhow, i thought its interesting, and maybe others should be careful > what they buy in the future, or at least read the little leaflets > carefully and ask the *possibly clueless* shop assistant about the > Products inside the Laptop. Could be that you buy the 'wolf in sheep's > clothing'. > > rgds, > David
