Inskränkningar¶
Ett vanligt misstag bland Windows och Office-användare är att de tror att de äger sin mjukvara helt och hållet. I själva verket omfattas den av ett antal juridiska bindningar.
Har du inte läst din licens fullt ut? Vi gjorde det jobbet till dig.
The small print in the contract¶
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Windows och Office är licensierade, de säljs inte.
No one can buy Windows or Microsoft Office: instead users purchase a permission to use them. The license describes the terms of this permission. It is the restrictive legal text you have to click “OK” to upon install.
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Du måste överge många rättigheter för att kunna använda mjukvaran.
There are a number of restrictions that you must accept by law. Restrictions on who can use the software, what kind of revenue you may earn with it, on how you choose to install it, restrictions on your privacy, even on whether you can give it away: the list is long. Reading the license and enumerating your remaining rights is itself a difficult task.
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En OEM-distribuerad mjukvara kan inte föras över till en annan dator.
If you bought your computer with Windows or Office pre-installed (the so-called OEM licenses, or the “shrink wrap” Windows discs), if you change computers you must buy software again. The license is linked to one computer, and expires when the computer dies. It is then illegal to transfer the software on another computer.
If you go to most of the free software sites, you can click down a couple of levels and find the [GNU] GPL, the X license, the Apache license, whichever terms and conditions you have to accept in order to use that software.
Now with a proprietary software company, the license is buried so you can’t read it until after you have paid for the product, then they’re asking you to turn off part of your brain, they’re asking you to turn off part of your ability to work with other people and to do business, when you use their software.
Don Marti, Go Open Source - Big Gun: Don Marti
The meaning behind¶
Companies like Microsoft like to assimilate their software to physical products, when mentioning copyright infringement for example. Yet, proprietary software is very different because of the restrictive license – such restrictions would be unthinkable on a car or bicycle, for example.
Restriktioner för användningen av Office och Windows är så hårda att många överträdelser inträffar varje dag runt omkring oss. Människor frestas att bara köpa en version av Microsoft Office och installera den i två datorer. Andra behåller sin version av Windows när de slänger sin dator. Andra människor ger bort sin begagnade Windows-programvara när de slutar använda den.
You have an alternative to breaking this law, or feeling very restrained when you abide to it. GNU/Linux is Free Software (much better than just freeware): its GPL is designed to protect your rights.