{"id":289,"date":"2009-12-12T01:31:47","date_gmt":"2009-12-12T09:31:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/systemsolver.com\/StatlerBlog\/?p=289"},"modified":"2009-12-12T01:31:47","modified_gmt":"2009-12-12T09:31:47","slug":"xp-pro-concurrent-users","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/systemsolver.goodhealthyday.com\/StatlerBlog\/2009\/12\/12\/xp-pro-concurrent-users\/","title":{"rendered":"XP Pro Concurrent Users"},"content":{"rendered":"

There is a hack to allow several users to simultaneously log into<\/a> [or here<\/a>] a computer running XP Pro (and perhaps hack Server 2003<\/a>). I researched the legality of such a hack and am personally convinced it is legal under US copyright law, though I am not a lawyer and am not offering this as legal advice. I do offer three links that support my opinion.<\/p>\n

The first link is from D. J. Bernstein [Wikipedia<\/a>] who brought the court caseBernstein v. United States<\/a>which ruled that software is protected speech. At Mr. Bernsein’s site he gives his understanding of thesoftware user’s rights<\/a>. In part, he says,<\/p>\n

… according to the CONTU Final Report, which is generally interpreted by the courts as legislative history, “the right to add features to the program that were not present at the time of rightful acquisition” falls within the owner’s rights of modification under section 117.<\/p>\n

Note that, since it’s not copyright infringement for you to apply a patch, it’s also not copyright infringement for someone to give you a patch.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

My second link is from US Code Title 17 Chapter 1 \u00a7117 [Cornell Law<\/a>] “Limitations on exclusive rights: Computer programs” which says in part,<\/p>\n

Making of Additional Copy or Adaptation by Owner of Copy.\u2014 <\/strong> Notwithstanding the provisions of section <\/span>106<\/a>, it is not an infringement for the owner of a copy of a computer program to make or authorize the making of another copy or adaptation of that computer program provided: <\/span>

(1) that such a new copy or adaptation is created as an essential step in the utilization of the computer program in conjunction with a machine and that it is used in no other manner, or <\/span>

(2) that such new copy or adaptation is for archival purposes only and that all archival copies are destroyed in the event that continued possession of the computer program should cease to be rightful.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

From my reading I understand there is some controversy over who “owns” a computer program. Some people wonder if, indeed, you purchase the software or it is simply licensed. This point is arguable, but I found no rulings to say software is only licensed and not owned.<\/p>\n

And my third link is from the report that US Code Title 17 Chapter 1 \u00a7117 is based on, “Final Report of the National Commission on New Technology Uses of Copyrighted Works<\/a>” (CONTU as referenced in the first quote) In part, the report states, [emphasis is mine]<\/p>\n

The new copyright law should be amended: (1) to make it explicit that computer programs, to the extent that they embody an author’s original creation, are proper subject matter of copyright; (2) to apply to all computer uses of copyrighted programs by the deletion of the present section 117; and (3) to ensure that rightful possessors of copies of computer programs may use or adapt these copies for their use.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As an addendum I offer this last link to a findlaw.com article on “Year 2000 Self-Help: Two Possible Defenses To Charges Of Copyright Infringement When A Software Licensee Performs Its Own Y2K Fix” [Link<\/a>] which discusses the defense of a customer fixing a software problem themselves.<\/p>\n

So there you have it, my reasons for believing it is okay to apply the Terminal Services Hack to a computer running XP Pro. Microsoft may not like it, but the chances of them arguing against it is slim enough to be none (especially after the hack has been freely available on the web for at least 5 years, and that hacking to get the feature wasn’t necessary in XP Pro SP1; see the links above).<\/p>\n

My primary interest in allowing concurrent users is not really so much to allow multiple users, it’s to allow one user to have simultaneous and completely separate computing spaces on one computer…but that’s another story.<\/p>\n

P.S. Vista may be hacked as well according to this site<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There is a hack to allow several users to simultaneously log into [or here] a computer running XP Pro (and perhaps hack Server 2003). I researched the legality of such a hack and am personally convinced it is legal under US copyright law, though I am not a lawyer and am not offering this as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-289","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/systemsolver.goodhealthyday.com\/StatlerBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/systemsolver.goodhealthyday.com\/StatlerBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/systemsolver.goodhealthyday.com\/StatlerBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/systemsolver.goodhealthyday.com\/StatlerBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/systemsolver.goodhealthyday.com\/StatlerBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=289"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/systemsolver.goodhealthyday.com\/StatlerBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/systemsolver.goodhealthyday.com\/StatlerBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/systemsolver.goodhealthyday.com\/StatlerBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=289"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/systemsolver.goodhealthyday.com\/StatlerBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}