Al;

I agree with you Al. In response to your title “I want Microsoft to be more up-front with its customers”, I think Microsoft cannot be any more “up-front” than it already is! They are in our face!

After reading the different EULA’s going back to creation we are given words by Ken to the effect that the wording and intent has not really changed. Words have meaning and although it takes a court of law and many attorneys to define “meaning and intent”, I think the EULA for version 8 is different from previous versions. No, if we believe what Ken has said, an apple is an orange and an orange is an apple. Microsoft has spoken!

Can we designate which version of VFP we will use as the basis of our upgrade and not use it while using previous versions? :)

Wait until Microsoft begins extracting royalties from developers and clients using applications developed using Microsoft tools. Licensing could be a big money maker. You could license annually, by the number of users, CPU’s, amount of RAM, time of day, and whatever else you care to add.

Do not worry, if there is a way to make money with software Microsoft will be there – with its attorneys, marketing vultures, and other assorted geeks.

Tom



>What has set me off here is the issue of the End User License Agreement (EULA) for VFP8. A lot of messages have already been posted on this issue; others have kindly posted relevant EULA sections for VFP7 and VFP8 which I reproduce here.
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>In a nutshell, the VFP8 EULA explicitly states that, if you install it as an upgrade, you can no longer use the product that formed the basis for the upgrade:
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>11.1 Upgrades. To use a version of the Software identified as an upgrade, you must first be licensed for the software identified by Microsoft as eligible for the upgrade. After upgrading, you may no longer use the software that formed the basis for your upgrade eligibility.
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>The equivalent part of the VFP7 EULA does not seem to exclude the continued use of earlier versions, especially if the new version is considered a "supplement" to the old (bolding mine):
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>UPGRADES. If the SOFTWARE PRODUCT is labeled as an upgrade, you must be properly licensed to use a product identified by Microsoft as being eligible for the upgrade in order to use the SOFTWARE PRODUCT. A SOFTWARE PRODUCT labeled as an upgrade replaces and/or supplements the product that formed the basis for your eligibility for the upgrade. You may use the resulting upgraded product only in accordance with the terms of this EULA. If the SOFTWARE PRODUCT is an upgrade of a component of a package of software programs that you licensed as a single product, the SOFTWARE PRODUCT may be used and transferred only as part of that single product package and may not be separated for use on more than one computer.
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>This change means that if you need or want to continue to use the "upgrade basis" product (probably an earlier version of VFP) you need to purchase full version VFP8, or an MSDN subscription. This is considerably more expensive than the upgrade price will be.
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>I currently have VFP5, 6, and 7 installed on my dev machine; I've bought every available PC platform upgrade since FoxBASE+. I was planning to buy the VFP8 upgrade and install it but continue to use 5, 6 and 7 to support existing apps at various clients. I would not have bothered to read the EULA so I wouldn't have been aware of the change, and that I would be in breach of the EULA by continuing to use VFP7.
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>What I really object to, is that this is a surprise. It took an eagle-eyed early VFP8 adopter here on the UT to bring this to my attention. I believe MS should have notified the community of this change before it came out here on the UT. Users need to know in advance of actually purchasing product (and being able to read the EULA section(s) in question) so that they purchase the correct version.
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>There have been other recent examples of Microsoft inserting overly broad or otherwise questionable terms and conditions in product EULAs. I want Microsoft to stop this practice and to be more up-front with its customers.