[mansr]

I don't think there are any legal issues here (but IANAL), and I can see a free Windows clone being useful to some people. However, Microsoft has a 25-year head start so these guys have some serious catching up to do. Until Microsoft goes out of business, I doubt they will ever have a system compatible with a current Windows version.

[hga]

That would be OK by me: I'd prefer to keep myself and my parents at the XP SP3 level quasi-forever as long as the OS was supported (I myself an still using Windows Eudora as my email client).

Well, I suppose eventually Firefox el. al. will drop XP support, but that day will hopefully be far in the future.

[rbanffy]

> I don't think there are any legal issues here

Just imagine how many patents Microsoft will be compelled to use against this project if it ever becomes a perceived threat.

I am sure all MS's EULAs prohibit you from running Microsoft software on anything other than Windows.

[tptacek]

Add this to the list of things you're "sure" about, but shouldn't be.

Nowhere in the EULA for Microsoft Office (their most profitable product) do I find text requiring you to run it on Microsoft Windows. I read it top-to-bottom, then searched for "Windows" (which never occurs) and then "operating system" (which occurs only to warn you that they use your operating system to get to the Internet).

[ratsbane]

This is correct on the face of it. However, some of the terms, though vague, effectively prohibit running Office under Wine, etc. The following phrase occurs in the Office 2007 EULA: "...In doing so, you must comply with any technical limitations in the software that only allow you to use it in certain ways." The phrase "...technical limitations..." is present four times in total; particularly combined with some of the license verification verbage certainly could be used in legal arguments as rbanffy suggested

[tptacek]

Which specific technical limitations would you be referring to?

[ratsbane]

How would you interpret the phrase "...In doing so, you must comply with any technical limitations in the software that only allow you to use it in certain ways?"

[tptacek]

I thought you might know of one, specifically, that binds Office '07 to Windows (and not simply a faithful reimplementation of WinAPI).

[rbanffy]

You are right about Office 2007 (the one license I found), but you are wrong about Internet Explorer. It's license states clearly you can only use IE if you have a license for Windows XP, Vista, Server 2003 or 2008 (the IE8 on my wife's corporate notebook has a Brazilian license that doesn't mention Windows 7)

[rbanffy]

I see very biased moderation when it comes to mentioning Microsoft under anything but the most favorable light. Do they pay for this?

[dRother]

I think you're seeing a knee-jerk reaction to what is seen as a knee-jerk reaction to Microsoft. The truth is, MS clearly sucks beyond any hope. People are sick of hearing it, though, so especially if they use Windows and don't know any better, they deny it and become angry.

[dRother]

I wonder if that has changed recently? I recall hearing about this issue in the past in regards to Office and Wine.