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What are the license restrictions surrounding the redistribution of Windows OSes as part of virtual demos?
I am looking to make available demo versions of my software as already installed and configured on a VHD (or whatever the VMWare equivalent is). I was told that this is not possible because MS does not allow the Windows OS to be redistributed that way (even trial/demo versions). Can anyone point me to a definitive source (MS license terms maybe?) that specifies what the requirements are? Or at least an official "this is not possible"?
MS seems to be distributing their virtual training labs and product demos more and more as a VHD download. I was hoping to be able to do the same.
Sure, it's very likely that you can distribute Windows as part of your demo, but you're going to have to buy a license for every copy. I'm assuming you wanted to avoid that.
Your sources are correct; this isn't possible. Microsoft distributes windows on VHD's for training and demonstration purposes because it can. I'm not aware of any organization being given permission to distribute Windows as you describe. You are not likely to find an official "this is not possible", simply because licenses define what you can do, not (in general) what you can't. Most of the prohibitions in a license agreement are stipulations that are part of the granting of some other right. You won't find a comprehensive list of what's disallowed, simply because that's obviously impossible.
The only way to get an official response is to ask your Microsoft representative, assuming that you have one (if your organization has an EA, for example, the EA representative would be the person to talk to).
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If I understand things correctly, at the end of the year Google Code will be shutting down most of what is useful for an open source project I help maintain, described below.
I'm wondering what the current alternatives are to Google Code? I'm looking for a site that has the following attributes, some of which are attractive about Google Code (but which will not be available soon or in the long term):
free
svn/mercurial/git version control services that we can use to manage code and share trunk/branches with the public
hosts files (source code and prebuilt binaries) with reasonable storage (we currently have a 4 GB quota, but we don't use much of it, at this time)
offers wiki-like or relatively free-form web space to publish documentation (text and graphics)
I guess we could "roll our own" server to do all of this, but then it becomes a maintenance issue for all the services that run in the background. So I'm wondering if there are other companies that offer this kind of setup for open source projects?
(Note: While this is a software development question, it is more about the distribution side of things. If this is the wrong spot for this question, feel free to comment on where I should move it. Thanks for your help, hiveminds.)
Google code isn't shutting down, it's just stop hosting binaries.
For your binaries you have Bintray.com.
Bintray is a social platform for community-based software distribution. It is also the only platform that integrates developer tools (Build tools, etc.) and APIs, allowing full process automation, including auto-generating of indexes for multiple repository formats and also, the platform is highly available and optimized to deliver high-performance downloads (CDN).
Microsoft's codeplex would fit these needs
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I'm wondering what is the license of the fonts included with Windows. Does anybody know where I could find the EULA for them? In general, can I freely use these fonts in my open source software?
In general, I know I cannot distribute the font file itself, but how about simply displaying some text with this font? For example, Arial is used in many websites, I guess these websites don't pay some extra license fee to Microsoft?
The Arial wikipedia article describes the licensing terms of Microsoft fonts. And, it also specifies free alternatives available that are metrically equivalent to Arial. Liberation Sans is a good choice IMO. Look at relevant wiki articles to know all the free alternatives available.
Most of the Windows fonts are licensed to Ascender corporation. They now provide license for software and hardware developers to use them. See Type Foundry: Microsoft for more information, and the fonts available.
In addition to that, if you go to right-click -> properties, there's a tab called license. It provides the information about licensing terms as well.
When it comes to use of fonts like Arial in websites, I think it's allowed because the website itself doesn't embed the font, but merely specifies the font name. It's the browser that does the mapping. If you are talking about a stand-alone software, you need to have a closer look.
You are free to use the fonts supplied with Windows, free to write software that uses them, but you cannot distribute them.
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I am looking for Windows applications guidelines, related to configuration, log files and other issues not related to user experience - like
Store your configs in Foo directory
Put temporary files in Baz one
Default directory for open/save has to be Bar
etc
Thanks
Read the Windows 7 Client Software Logo Program Documentation. http://download.microsoft.com/download/1/E/9/1E9580D9-2B2B-499C-918A-C9BA5EAC4A32/Windows%207%20Client%20Software%20Logo.pdf
The purpose of this document is to
outline the technical requirements and
eligibility qualifications an
application must meet in order to
participate in the Windows 7 Client
Software Logo Program. The Windows
platform has a broad ecosystem of
products and partners that supports
the platform. Displaying the Windows
logo on your product represents a
relationship and a shared commitment
to quality between Microsoft and your
company. Customers trust that seeing
the Windows brand on your product
ensures that it meets compatibility
standards and performs well on the
Windows platform. The Windows 7
Client Software Logo Program is made
up of policies and technical
requirements to help ensure that
third-party applications carrying the
Windows brand are both easy to install
and reliable on PCs running Windows 7.
End users and customers value
stability, reliability, performance,
and quality in the systems they
purchase. Microsoft focuses some of
its investments to meet these
requirements for software applications
designed to run on the Windows 7
platform for PCs. These efforts
include compatibility tests for
ease-of-use, better performance, and
enhanced security on PCs running
Windows 7 software. Microsoft
compatibility tests have been designed
in collaboration with industry
partners and are continuously improved
in response to industry developments
and consumer demand.
A good point to start is the Windows 7 Logo Requirements, which define the requirements to qualify for the Windows 7 logo.
The folders to be used are for instance defined in point 2 of the Technical Requirements ("Install to the correct folders by default" with exact information about what to put where).
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I was shocked to learn that OpenMosix is closed. Can you suggest any similar free tool for linux.
For those who don't know, OpenMosix is
a software package that turns networked computers running GNU/Linux into a cluster. It automatically balances the load between different nodes of the cluster, and nodes can join or leave the running cluster without disruption of the service. The load is spread out among nodes according to their connection and CPU speeds.
The nicest part is that you don't need to link your programs with any special libraries neither do you need to modify your programs. Just "fork and forget".
Another nice (but not must have) feature is the fact that it doesn't have to be installed on dedicated computers, but can sit on various desktop computers in your organization/lab/home etc.
I'm aware of the names of several possible solutions (for example). I'm looking for personal experience and/or nice reviews
EDIT Mosix, the predecessor of OpenMosix, used to be free (as free beer). However, now it costs money
I'm not sure how it compares feature-wise to OpenMosix, but Rocks is an open source cluster Linux distro.
From the website:
Rocks is an open-source Linux cluster
distribution that enables end users to
easily build computational clusters,
grid endpoints and visualization
tiled-display walls. Hundreds of
researchers from around the world have
used Rocks to deploy their own cluster
You may want to listen to this episode of FLOSS Weekly that is all about Rocks.
The closet similar free solution to the openMosix technology is Kerrighed.
Shamelessly ripped from the Beowulf mailing list:
OpenSSI or
Mosix If you don't need a fully open-source solution and is a non-profit.
For a much more in-depth discussion check out this thread:
Beowulf - open mosix alternative
To help make this dead thread more useful, a more modern alternative is criu (Checkpoint and Restore In Userspace).
See for example:
https://chandanduttachowdhury.wordpress.com/2015/08/10/test-driving-criu-live-migrate-any-process-on-linux/
http://criu.org/
You might also consider containers like Docker as well or instead
E.g.
http://blog.circleci.com/checkpoint-and-restore-docker-container-with-criu/
I looked here to get an update as I have not used openmosix since graduating, but there is now a new tech called "Mesh Computing", and also the ether of bitcoin, so processes must transport the means of getting their data to a suitable node in a secure manner, and then try to run in a fault tolerant manner. I think the answer is a HURD, which before the mesh was more of a pipe dream. I think you should go to https://www.gnu.org/software/hurd/hurd.html and pitch in if you have time. The mesh is upon us and there is no access to anything except agent hosting on mesh.
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What's the general consensus on supporting Windows 2000 for software distribution? Are people supporting Windows XP SP2+ for new software development or is this too restrictive still?
"OK" is a subjective judgement. You'll need to take a look at your client base and see what they're using.
Having said that, I dropped support for Win2K over a year ago with no negative impact.
I'd say MS have made the decision for you if they themselves wont support it in .NET 3.5.
The latest version of WinRAR still supports Windows 95. Think about it, why is that? It's because WinRAR solves a extremely common problem - of unpacking a file. People still use older systems not because they like them, but because they are forced to by the hardware. If you're making a video game, sure, drop support for anything below XP SP2, but if you're making a program that solves a specific task, like converting an RTF to PDF, I don't see a reason not to support other systems.
It is not merely "OK"; it is a good idea. Anything to encourage the laggards to keep current is a good thing.
A lot of computers at my company use Win2k, so we couldn't really drop support. It all depends on the client base.
With XP being 5/6 years old now, I think most home users will be using it, but many business users may still be using it. all in all, it depends on your target audience.
Personally I would regard Windows 2000 support as a bonus rather than a requirement.
This is very subjective, it really depends who you're selling to.
If it's average Joe then Windows 2K owners are going to be at best a percent or two of your target market. If it's the military (who I believe still run 2K on their toughbooks) then you're in trouble.
Its fine by me :)
The company i work for (mining and construction) with <15k employees and we don't support Wink2k and have not for a while.
I would say yes, as most have switched to XP or vista, from what I can tell.