[OT] MS EULA -- (will ActiveState become outlaws? ;-)

[Tim Peters]

[Steven D. Majewski]
> Sent: Thursday, June 21, 2001 9:50 PM
> Is this the next stage of Microsoft's war against Open Source ?
>
> Discussion of this on SlashDot :
> <http://slashdot.org/articles/01/06/21/1810258.shtml>
> ( Right before the article on the Monty Python Action Figures! )
>
> If this spreads to all of Microsoft's EULA's, will this make
> ActiveState illegal ?  They don't specifically mention Python's
> license, but they do mention Perl's ( and the "similar to any
> of the following" clause would seem to include Python's. )

I don't think so.  All the licenses mentioned (including Perl's Artistic
License) obligate (under most circumstances) the licensee to provide source
for any changes they may make; no version of the Python license requires
that.  But I'm neither a lawyer nor Bill Gates, so cutting open a chicken
and looking for patterns in its entrails is better legal advice.

> Does anyone know if this should be taken seriously ?

I'm sure it already is, and by many people.  Whether *you* should make it
your life's work isn't really a question c.l.py can answer <wink>.