For the moment I have obtained a quick legal opinion on this issue but on Monday I will attempt to obtain a more definitive legal answer to the interpretation of this. Current opinion is:

That the use of the word 'may' is explicitly allowing runtimes to be distributed to a 'Microsoft Windows platform'. It is NOT disallowing distribution to other operating systems (Linux), however, nor is it explicitly allowing this distribution. What it is in effect doing is making NO COMMENT on the subject. This means that the matter is decided by any other applicable existing laws, and I do not believe there are any existing laws which would prevent an application from being distributed to any operating system.

Using this wording has let Microsoft reserve their right to decide whether to allow or disallow distribution to other operating systems in the future while avoiding any chance of the VFP8 EULA being used against them. So if they decide to say disallow VFP10 from being distributed to Linux machines no one would be able to use the fact that they explicitly allowed VFP8 on Linux against them.

NickC


Microsoft's clarification:
Visual FoxPro was designed and tested for use in creating applications that run on the Microsoft Windows platform; the same applies to the components that are provided to developers for redistribution with Visual FoxPro-based applications. If a developer wishes to distribute the Visual FoxPro runtime with an application, the runtime may only operate in conjunction with a Microsoft Windows platform. As with any contract, you should seek your own legal counsel's advice when interpreting your rights and obligations under the Visual FoxPro End User License Agreement.