In article <1h092p7.1uhh17l2ecdkaN%lynn (AT) NOT-semiotics (DOT) com>, lynn@NOT-
semiotics.com says...

See #1 that's not illegal. It certainly might be but there's no
certainty that its illegal. Nor is number #3, #5, or #6.

Given that 4 of those 7 mean at most that it *might* be pirated, we can
hardly conclude that a "CDROM only" sale is *automatically* illegal,
just by merit of being on the list.

No company *SELLs* OEM disks. Period. In the case of software, most of
them don't even DISTRIBUTE it. They leave the actual manufacturing and
distribution of the OEM disks to the OEMs.


On a tangent...

I have an OEM version of Windows NT server that shipped with a (now old)
Compaq server. The disks weren't *made* or *distributed* or *sold* by
Microsoft, they were made, sold, and distributed, and even supported by
Compaq who of course bundled them with the Proliant (iirc) server
packages at the time. They weren't even supported by Microsoft (you had
to call Compaq (now HP) for all support), etc.

I actually even went through a GIGANTIC hassle when I tried to upgrade
to Server 2000. We decided to do a clean install and the upgrade disk
wouldn't even recognize the Compaq OEM disk as legitimate version of NT
server. Compaq couldn't help because they had no control over the
Windows 2000 upgrade box I purchased from Microsoft, and I had to
threaten microsoft with legal action before they provided me with a
suitable non-Compaq-OEM Windows NT Server disk so the upgrade could
proceed. (They wanted me to just buy a full version of Windows 2000.)

From the filemaker website:
--------------------------------------
# OEM piracy/unbundling

When original equipment manufacturer (OEM) software is copied and sold
separately from the hardware. This is a violation of the distribution
contract between the vendor and the software publisher. FileMaker does
not distribute OEM software, so if you find an online business or
auction site describing FileMaker software as OEM, be on the look out
for illegal software.
----------------------------------------

The wording here almost backs up what you say Lynn, almost: "Filemaker
does not distribute OEM software", but as i said above that could be
weasel language. Many software houses don't distribute their own OEM
software.

More importantly... why are they hedging on its pirated status then?

Why didn't they just come out and say "Its pirated or counterfeit!"
Instead they hedge: "be on the look out for illegal software". To me
that practically screams that they aren't able to 100% commit that its a
pirated disk, that maybe, just maybe, there really is some OEM filemaker
stuff out there... maybe bundled with some African or Asian or Eastern
European OEM PC manufacturer to get some market penetration or
something. Maybe not. Who knows.


Note also that such unbundled OEM software is described as "a violation
of the distribution agreement between the vender and the publisher". If
it exists it would be grey market product, as I said elsewhere. That
makes it "legal" but not "authorized".

As a professional who makes a part of my living working with Filemaker
I'm with you that we should only use legal AND authorized product. But
I'm not going to blur the distinction between the two. They aren't the
same thing.

regards,
Dave