>Vitamin, correct me if I am wrong, but if I own a legitimate copy of Vista, it is not stealing. I >specifically stated in my post that a large number of Linux users will posess legitimate copies of >Vista. > >So why are you saying it is stealing? Pray enlighten me. Let one of the lurkers here detail why what you describe is stealing: It is illegal to use any patented technology in a manner that is not approved by the patent holder. Thus recreating any of the patented technology used by the Vista Speech recognition software without the permission of Microsoft can and probably will end up in several courts. Microsoft has been known to use legal tactics to shutdown competition. This project, Wine, attempts to not use any technology that Microsoft has patented. If you don't like this, blame the society in which we live. The basic term for using patented technology without license is called Stealing. Thus, we cannot support, for legal reasons, what you desire. The Wine project is working on supporting Dragon Naturally Speaking, because it does not require duplication of any patented technology and for DNS 10, Wine does a very good job of supporting it. Sadly, for those stuck with Vista, Wine will not be able to include that technology. Other projects may decide that it is worth pursuing work on this project so that it may come to pass on operating systems that are not created by Microsoft. This is called commercial enterprise, and they may have to pay Microsoft for licenses. They may or may not decide to challange Microsoft in court. Microsoft may decide that they will issue free licenses. However, I don't think that they will support a direct competitor to their flagship and money making product (that is my opinion based upon many years on this planet.) You are free to pursue a FOSS product that may or may not integrate with Wine. That is your decision. > >> > Sam wrote: >> > 1. Many people have copies of Vista. It comes with nearly every new PC. Many linux users will have a Vista DVD. The same is not true for Dragon. >> > You are required to buy Vista? I don't think so. I don't have Vista, I don't want it and I will not have it. I own a Mac, in fact several of them. I have no need to get Vista as the operating system that comes with them works just fine for me. And Vitamin may be a little harsh, but he does mean well and states consisely what I took many words to say: Wine cannot and most likely will not support any Microsoft patented technology for many reasons. James McKenzie
