XP and Vista question

[Dave Cragg]

Hi

One for the lawyers...

I read a lot about this restriction of using some editions of Vista  
with virtual systems, but is it absolutely clear this use is  
restricted? The following is the sentence from the EULA that I have  
seen quoted in many places:


“USE WITH VIRTUALIZATION TECHNOLOGIES. You may not use the software  
installed on the licensed device within a virtual (or otherwise  
emulated) hardware system.”

I've never seen this placed in the wider context of the entire  
license, but I wonder what the phrase "licensed device" refers to. Is  
the device in this case the disk that contains Vista? If so, then it  
seems clear you can't use it on a virtual system (legal challenges  
notwithstanding). But the wording sounds to me more like an OEM  
license, where "licensed device" is the computer you bought which  
already had Vista installed. In that case, I don't think it's so  
different from existing OEM licensing of Windows.

Can anyone clear this up?

Cheers
Dave