Interesting People mailing list archives
IP: Re: Be-ing in a Microsoft-dominated world
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Wed, 29 Aug 2001 09:44:12 +1000
From: "Brian David Hungerford" <bhungerf () umich edu> To: "David Farber \(by way of Bernard A. Galler\)" <dave () farber net> The boot license doesn't actually say that you can't install a second OS. What is says is: 1. You can't deliver a preinstalled machine in which Microsoft's code bootstraps someone else's OS. It is technical possible to do this with NT/2000/XP/etc., because the NT bootloader is specifically designed to respect the preexistence of another OS and incorporate that into the boot sequence; any MCSE knows this. It's how NT systems allow you to preserve your previous boot option when you upgrade from DOS, OS/2, or Windows 9x/ME. However ... 2. OEM's must use Microsoft's preinstallation tools to deploy the OS on the machine. Since those tools (usually) start by blasting away the contents of the disk and laying down Windows in a fresh partition, any preexisting OS would be destroyed in the process. Hence the trap: deploy the other OS first, and the OEM tools wipe it away; deploy it after Windows, and you've used Microsoft's boot code to launch a different OS. It is trivially easy for end users and VAR's to set up dual-boot systems. But - as the article points out - this would require some interest on the part of customers for post-purchase installation, and there is none.
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- IP: Re: Be-ing in a Microsoft-dominated world David Farber (Aug 28)