Am I distributing Microsoft software illegally?

[Rene]

In a normal scenario, a person would download something like the .Net framework form the Microsoft website and when the person installs the .Net, the person will be presented with the license agreement that he or she must agree to before continuing with the installation.

In most (if not all) windows installers like InstallShield, Wise and InstallAware, if we want to make life easy for the person installing our software, we would normally include the distribution of the .Net as a prerequisite where we *DON’T* prompt the user to agree to any license agreement, in our example, the .Net license agreement from Microsoft.

So the question is, is it illegal to distribute third party software without prompting the user to agree to the license agreement of the third party software?

Would it be overkill not to allow the user to continue the installation of the .Net framework unless he or she checks a box where they agree to the .Net license agreement?

I am thinking that maybe I can add a checkbox on the prerequisites form that says something like “I agree with the .Net license agreement” that the user must check in order to continue. Then, I can have a button next to the checkbox that if clicked, will popup a form where they can read the license if they wanted to.

Is this a prudent thing to do or am I just overreacting here.

Opinions wanted please.

Thanks.

[neillans]

The legalities with Runtimes are complex.

If you toe the line totally, you should copy the license agreement and present it during your installation (as part of your license agreement, or in addition to). If the user disagrees with anything in any agreements, the installation should abort.

We do not enforce this, as it is - in our opinion - over the top to bombard the end user with (for example) a dozen agreements during a single installation; it's much better for them to be combined into one monolithic agreement.

However, we have not received any objects from Microsoft regarding our bundling of runtimes, so ...

(Personally: for large projects, I include all agreements. For small apps, I don't bother).

[Rene]

To be honest with you, I am not too worried about what Microsoft may say, I really don’t think they care otherwise they would have already raise hell about it. My concern revolves around the actual person installing my application (my users) for example….

Let’s just come up with some exaggerated and stupid example to make the point, say that a person runs my InstallAware setup. When the person first runs the setup, the person is asked to install the .Net framework as a prerequisite. The person does not have a problem with that and clicks the OK button, during the installation of the .Net, the computer hangs and because of that, 10 people die.

OK, I am sure something like that will never happen but if it did…… am I liable for that because I didn’t make the person agree that things could go wrong when installing the .net Framework and is up to them to take the risk and assume full responsibility?

Or maybe the installation of the .Net framework when on without a hitch but once the computer is running it crashes (due to the .Net framework) and because of that, the guy using the computer develops some sort of erectile dysfunction!!!…. Yes, yes, I know that that will not happen but let’s say it did, would I be liable for that too?

I understand that most people here are not lawyers, I am simply curious about opinions and/or experiences.

Cheers.
Thanks.

[neillans]

I am actually involved in managing a project that is a lot like this - people might not die, but the consequences would be equally disastrous.

What I've done in that case is:

- Standard disclaimer in the installer

along with:
- Dot Net Disclaimer (which disclaims Microsoft from any wrongdoing)
- All other runtimes

As well as a signed license agreement - at least with this project we have the luxury of knowing exactly who runs the software!

At the end of the day, Microsoft disclaim all responsibility - as do all software developers. Your license agreement should carry the same sort of disclaimer. If it doesn't you can land yourself in some serious legal bother!

[Rene]

Feature request:

Option A)

Extend the dialog templates so that they contain an extra dialog form that can be shown after the user clicks ok to install the prerequisites. This form will need to force the user to agree on the prerequisites license agreements before continuing.

Ideally, InstallAware would have the necessary logic to automatically include the necessary license agreements (base on my prerequisites selection) and the logic to automatically display the necessary licenses agreements based on the list of prerequisites that the user must install (Perhaps by concatenation all in one file and then display them).

Option B)

Change the scripts so that the standard license agreement dialog is shown at the very beginning of the installation process so that we can include all of the necessary agreements there before the user can even being to do any installs.

I know that this can be easily done in InstallAware edition that allows you to modify the script but impossible to do on the express edition.

[MichaelNesmith]

Yes, the Express edition doesn't include the kitchen sink, this is intentional.