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licensing posts

Filed under: OS Updates, Windows, Microsoft

Family Pack license for Windows 7 could cover 3 machines on the cheap

Got three computers at home? There is reason to believe that Microsoft will let you license Windows 7 on all of them for a very competitive price.

In recent leaked RTM branch builds of WIndows 7 Home Premium, there's been an interesting language chance in the license agreement under "Installation Use and Rights":
b. Family Pack. If you are a "Qualified Family Pack User", you may install one copy of the software marked as "Family Pack" on three computers in your household for use by people who reside there. Those computers are the "licensed computers" and are subject to these license terms. If you do not know whether you are a Qualified Family Pack User, visit go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?Linkid=141399 or contact the Microsoft affiliate serving your country.
No, the link doesn't work yet, but this seems to indicate that Microsoft is going to offer a multi-license pack of Windows 7 Home Premium. Other builds (Ultimate, Pro, etc.) don't contain the Family Pack wording.

It makes sense for several reasons. First, Microsoft offered a similar deal for Vista upgrades when it was released - a two pack for $49.99. Second, they use this strategy to push Office 2007 with the Home and Student edition. Third, Apple does it with Leopard and at one hell of a price: $199 for up to five Macs under the same roof.
CNet's Ed Bott predicts Microsoft will undercut Apple slightly and we'll see the Family Pack priced at $189.99, though it will likely cover three machines as the Office license does.

[via Kristan Kenney]

Filed under: Audio, Business, Web services

Getty Images gets into the music business

Getty Images gets into the music business

Getty, the stock image company, has launched a music extension to their popular photo placement products called Soundtrack.

Soundtrack, the new Getty music licensing service was developed to give multimedia producers the ability to quickly drop songs in to projects. The service blossomed through the acquisition of a leader in music licensing, Pump Audio, in June and will start things off with 20,000 original tracks.

This is only the start of Getty's entry into the music business. They will reportedly be partnering with major labels and publishers.

Filed under: Developer, Windows, Office, Microsoft, Commercial

Microsoft sets Office's ribbon UI not-quite-free

Ribbon UI
So you're a software developer and want your program to have a shiny "ribbon" interface just like Office 2007? Well, guess what--Microsoft patented the hell out of it! This should not surprise anybody. However, there is good news for developers, or some of them, at least. Microsoft has announced that it has "created a royalty-free licensing program that will enable developers to build applications that have the look and feel of the new 2007 Office system applications." The license is perpetual, meaning once Microsoft grants you the license it can't turn around and revoke or change it later on. However there are, as you might imagine, some "guidelines" Microsoft wants you to follow when building your own ribbony apps, and they take the form of a 120-page document. Though the deal sounds largely positive for software developers, there is one significant catch: Microsoft won't license their ribbon UI patents for products that compete directly with Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, or Access. This is a sensible move for Microsoft, but a bummer for the makers of competing products who stand a lot to gain from making products that look and act just like the dominant office suite in the marketplace.

You can check out the press release and a canned interview about the new licensing program at the link above, but I heartily recommend you skip it and instead head over to Jensen Harris' blog. Harris is Microsoft's Group Program Manager for the Office UI and lays everything out in plain English. He also links to a preview of the guidelines (you have to sign an NDA to get at the full 120-page document) and a Channel 9 video in which he talks to Microsoft laywer Judy Jennison about the program.

Filed under: Photo, Microsoft

Windows Media Photo: Microsoft's JPEG-killer?

Windows Media PhotoI just love making those "XYZ-killer" titles, though I suspect you readers tire of it. Anyhow, at Microsoft's WinHEC conference on Wednesday it showed off Windows Media Photo, a new file format intended to displace JPEG. Though the CNet article isn't especially specific, Microsoft had all kinds of good things to say about its new baby, including how it can achieve twice the compression at the same quality as JPEG. The sticking point, of course, is the licensing. Windows Media Photo was created by the same team that built Windows Media Video and Audio, which does not suggest very open licensing terms, but Microsoft's Bill Crow says, "the philosophy has been that licensing should not be a restriction" to its adoption. I'd love to see a new image format with superior features, but we learned our lession from JPEG and GIF's patent issues, so that better be one unrestrictive license if Microsoft wants WMP to go anywhere. At any rate, even in the best case it will be years before it sees any widespread adoption. If you like technical documentation, Microsoft has the file format specifications available on its web site, and Microsoft intends to release software for integrating WMP into hardware and software soon.

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The World's Hardest Game 2.0 - Time Waster

So, just how good at time waster games are you? Think you've got the stuff? Well, The World's Hardest Game 2.0 doesn't think you do. Yes, amazingly, it's possible to have a sequel to a game called "The World's Hardest Game". It doesn't seem logically possible, since if the first one was actually the world's hardest, how could another one come along and share the moniker? It made me doubt the name in the first place. That is, until I tried the game. The mechanics of the game are very simple. You are a small red square, ...

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