The fact is M$ is able to get away with outrageous shit like this for two main reasons:
1. Lawmakers are EONS behind in developing any sort of legislation to protect computer user's rights (if anything, lawmakers are eager to DESTROY the rights of users and non-M$ developers alike)
and more importantly;
2. Exactly how many people actually READ the EULA??? My guess would be less than 10%, and that's being pretty generous IMO.
Plus a third point one could raise is that there aren't any restrictions (to my knowledge) as to what can be imposed upon users in the EULA. Who can forget the restrictions Adobe imposed upon users with the e-book product Glassbook they released which included:
Copy:
No text selections can be copied from the book to the clipboard.
Print:
No printing is permitted of this book.
Lend:
This book cannot be lent or given to someone else.
Give:
This book cannot be given to someone else.
Read Aloud:
This book cannot be read aloud.
And keep in mind this is for literature which can be found for FREE through mediums such as Project Gutenberg.
[ July 09, 2002: Message edited by: TB ]