Scott Granneman digs deep into upcoming Windows Vista’s End-User License Agreement (EULA) and airs his concern about limitations facing security professionals. For one, the EULA allows benchmark testing, but bans disclosure of benchmark results except when the publisher complies with certain terms. Secondly, the Vista Home Basic and Home Premium (the cheapest editions) cannot be installed under virtual machines or emulation mode. Third, you can only assign the software license twice. For instance, if you decide to upgrade your machine, and transfer the license to the new machine, that’s the end of the line for that particular Vista license.

While most Windows users wouldn’t be affected anyway, the concern is about how much security and other IT professionals can do with Vista, or rather how limited they are in how they use, test, and evaluate Vista in their line of work. the EULA sure makes it more difficult, whether benchmarking for performance, looking for security holes, or simply upgrading machines.

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