Legacy MS-DOS Licensing
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Legacy MS-DOS Licensing
MSDOS, Microsoft, Licensing, Legacy software, Microsoft licensing
I'm setting up a virtual machine that is going to run a legacy application that runs in MS-DOS 6.22. The client asked about the legality of copying the MS-DOS software. (He does have the license on the original machine as well as the original 3.5 install disks, so I suppose I would be "transferring it" from the old machine to the new virtual one) but this question has made me curious. Has MS-DOS moved into a sort of "freeware status" or does the copyright still have Microsoft teeth? If it still has to be licensed where can a legal copy of MS-DOS be found?
Thanks
ASKED: Mar 2 2009  3:55 PM GMT
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Labnuke99
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No the software is not freeway. The Microsoft license is still in place. There are probably a couple of places you can purchase a new license, but I don't have any idea where they are. I would simply plan on transferring the license from the old machine to the new machine.

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You could consider FreeDOS also.
Last Answered: Mar 2 2009  6:44 PM GMT by Labnuke99   26290 pts.
Latest Contributors: Mrdenny   46795 pts.
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Ledlincoln   1220 pts.  |   Mar 3 2009  8:28PM GMT

Check <a href="http://www.freedos.org" title="http://www.freedos.org" target="_blank">http://www.freedos.org</a>

 

Ledlincoln   1220 pts.  |   Mar 3 2009  8:29PM GMT

Oops, someone already put the link up above (and did it better than I).

 

KevinBeaver   7610 pts.  |   Mar 9 2009  3:52PM GMT

I’ve had the need to use old versions of DOS like this as well…I’m pretty sure the license terms don’t expire just because it’s old. It looks like there’s a lot of DOS for sale on ebay.

 

Flame   14495 pts.  |   Mar 10 2009  2:34PM GMT

We ended up transferring the license from the old machine to the new virtual machine, though the freeDOS looks promising and I might look to use it for a future project involving past technology…
The old machine was taken apart and most of the pieces went to recycling, This system still had a 360k5 1/4 floppy disk drive which is one of the parts I kept. The retired floppy drive now sits in a place of honor on a shelf next to an old 44M SyQuest drive and a couple of Bernoulli disks.
Thank you to all who helped.
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