TheStar.com – Business – Vistas legal `fine print raises red flags — FYI.

…for the past few months the legal and technical communities have dug into Vistas “fine print.” Those communities have raised red flags about Vistas legal terms and conditions as well as the technical limitations that have been incorporated into the software at the insistence of the motion picture industry.

The net effect of these concerns may constitute the real Vista revolution as they point to an unprecedented loss of consumer control over their own personal computers. In the name of shielding consumers from computer viruses and protecting copyright owners from potential infringement, Vista seemingly wrestles control of the “user experience” from the user.

Vistas legal fine print includes extensive provisions granting Microsoft the right to regularly check the legitimacy of the software and holds the prospect of deleting certain programs without the users knowledge. During the installation process, users “activate” Vista by associating it with a particular computer or device and transmitting certain hardware information directly to Microsoft.

Here’s the research paper mentioned in the article, A Cost Analysis of Windows Vista Content Protection