[RESOLVED] command.com copyrighted?

[Raze]

Just read in the paper that a company here has been taken to court by Microsoft for piracy...it said that they were loading pc's with command.com...in other words just making them bootable...

how else are we supposed to help our customers? i usually make the pc bootable and load the cdrom drivers so the enduser just sticks in his win9x cd and types setup from the cd...

is there another file like from another manufacturer that we could use that supports fat32 and windows will install over without hiccups and that isnt copyrighted?

btw...ive seen on the ontrack disk managers from seagate etc...that they have bootable files from caldera and another from pcdos...think those would work?

appreciate....thanks in advance...

[Gabriel]

Caledra and PCDos (and also FreeDOS)
Willl Do the Trick
I will suggest that you will Install a OS/Program to your customers only with a Valid License.

[Platypus]

Unfortunately, Caldera are no longer offering OpenDOS as a free operating system.

It was originally DR-DOS, and was passed off to a company called Lineo, who have re-instated it as embedded DR-DOS.

See: http://www.caldera.com/company/drdos.html

And: http://www.drdos.com/

FreeDOS is a possibility: http://www.freedos.org/

[Geek #1]

Surely if you own a Windows 95 disk, and put on the command.com from the win 95 boot disk, that would be OK???

Microsoft are taking this piracy thing too far. How the hell is putting command.com onto a machine causing them to loose money?

[EvilCabbage]

Im pretty much beyond giving a rats @ss about piracy anymore.

People record TV shows with their VCR's, and that aint quite kosher, but whos pisses their pants over that?

[Geek #1]

In Britain, it is legal to record from the TV, but the recording must be destroyed with a limited time otherwise you are in bretch of copyright.

The same applies for radio, I think.

Personally I've never been raided and don't think I will be. Anyone who has copied a tape or music CD for someone is braking the law, so what do I care.

My argument for software (in particular Windows) is that why pay for something that doesn't work.

[AlienDyne]

If loading command.com is illegal too, then I should start leaving the drives as they are. Without anything on!

[condor]

as long as you own a license for an o/s (win9x) you are allowed to create a floppy or install it's DOS on your HDD..

if a user buys a computer with no O/S you are not allowed to put Any copyrighted o/s on it..


you want it to boot ? install linux..

you can also call Microsoft and ask them for help - as far as I know if you sell computers you are allowed to install any O/S on them for QA, but when you give it to the use he must have a license or you must remove the O/S from the computer..

command.com is a part of an O/S ..

[Gabriel]

I wonder if Formatting a Drive using Command.com (with no "/s" switch) would be illigel too.

[techs]

I wonder when the copyright to command.com runs out?

[Platypus]

As far as I know, the intellectual property rights for software are the same as for other "written" property like books, which is the life of the author plus seventy years. At that rate command.com will be mighty obsolete by the time it becomes public domain.

I expect Microsoft is acting to prevent licenced code from being sent out on machines sold without any O/S, in which case the H/D would have to be empty, or have a freely licenced O/S like FreeDOS or Linux.

Microsoft would naturally assume systems sold without an O/S will be loaded with either a competing O/S or an illegal Windows by the owner.

[SubZero]

Originally posted by Gabriel:
<STRONG>I wonder if Formatting a Drive using Command.com (with no "/s" switch) would be illigel too.</STRONG>

I don't believe that it would be since you are not installing system files, but I'm not 100%sure

[sdrawkcab]

Originally posted by AlienDyne:
<STRONG>If loading command.com is illegal too, then I should start leaving the drives as they are. Without anything on!</STRONG>

So is it also illegal to use FDISK /MBR without the license? You are writing M$ code to the Boot record, and you're not paying them for it. I wouldn't be surprised to see this one in court soon.

[Ghostfleet]

M$ is going too far with this one. Where can you buy a copy of command.com anyway? I mean if they sold it, then that woudl be one thing. But to bitch about someone stealing something that you dont even sell is going too far. I hope they lose.

[SlakiV]

If they like it like that, then I'll happily go for Linux or Apple. Apple is also cool.

It's not that we're really good, it's just that everyone else sucks...