Contradiction in terms
So I’m downloading the latest Microsoft Business and Technical Assessment Toolkit, which is a free tool for Microsoft Partners like me, and for some reason I pause to read the license terms. They include the following passages:
1. INSTALLATION AND USE RIGHTS. You may install and use any number of copies of the software on your devices.
4. TRANSFER TO ANOTHER DEVICE. You may uninstall the software and install it on another device for your use. You may not do so to share this license between devices.
So what happened as they were putting this together?
A) The “don’t share” passage is part of the standard license boilerplate at Microsoft, and nobody proofread this particular license agreement before it went out.
B) It actually IS possible to violate the terms of this agreement by installing your free software in a particular manner, but I’m too stupid to figure out what it is.
C) The Microsoft lawyers just threw that in there to mess with my mind.
Please, please, let the answer be A.
Speaking of paradoxes, this toolkit requires InfoPath 2007 to run. I haven’t installed InfoPath 2007 yet, because I haven’t received it in the Action Pack and I don’t feel like downloading the Trial Version now and then converting in a few days when the Action Pack arrives. But I figured I could at least download the toolkit now and install later. Nope. The only option is to “Download and Install,” which presents the following dialog box:
I’m pretty sure the installation will fail, so I guess I’ll have to try again in a few days. Sigh ….







