When Microsoft release Windows Vista for the world to buy next year things will change in the software industry. Things will also change within the ranks of kiddies who run pirated editions of Windows, and last but probably worst, things will change for the thousands of legitimate users of workstations. In a weblog over at ZDnet the limits of the new Acceptable User License Agreement (AULA) are described. These contain a number of issues that most users will notice. Among them: You can only transfer (read: change your hardware (new motherboard, HDD or RAM anyone?)) the license once to another computer. If that was not enough, volume users, such as NTNU will have to do manual product activation on each copy, even of their volume licenced computer installations. (That’ll take some manpower from the already strained budgets.) The basic edition of Vista (Vista Home Basic) will actually forbid you to have .ISO-files on your harddrive. What the heck is that? If I want to burn a ISO-file or create an ISO-image of the pictures from last years new years party I’d like to do so! Not with Vista Home Basic, no.

I predict that 2007 will provide a bump in numbers of users of other operatingsystems. This could be Apple OSX, Linux or the *BSD-s. Prepare for the year that things will change.