The use of Microsoft binaries in the MASM32 Project

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The MASM32 Project was made possible in 1998 because Microsoft released the WIN98DDK with a EULA that made common use of the assembler and related files possible. From its origin, the MASM32 project has directly distributed the binaries under the conditions of the enclosed EULA and has never redistributed the files.

The original 19 meg download was obtained from the Microsoft MSDN site in 1998 after having been made available through the MSDN newsletter sent to subscribers. This download has not been publically available for some years as Microsoft no longer support win98.

As a response to another attempt to attack the MASM32 project from a number of UseNet groups, in January 2004 I made a formal enquiry to the Licencing division of Microsoft advising them of both the changes in availability of the WIN98DDK and the nature of the attacks from the UseNet groups. After further enquiries to the Copyright Permission division of Microsoft who in turn forwarded the enquiry to the Device driver division of Microsoft, Microsoft advised that the EULA for the WIN98DDK was a valid EULA in the context of the enquiry where some of its binaries are included in the MASM32 project and require,

    (a) The EULA be included in the project.
    (b) The user of the binaries must comply with the licence.

The licence is in fact a very generous one in that it affords the user specific rights of for both personal and commercial use. The following quotation is directly from the WIN98DDK.

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1.    GRANT OF LICENSE.  This EULA grants you the following limited, non-exclusive rights:
* SOFTWARE PRODUCT.  You may make, install and use up to a maximum of ten (10) copies of the SOFTWARE PRODUCT on computers, including workstations, terminals or other digital electronic devices, residing on your premises, to design, develop, and test software products, including but not limited to device drivers and other software products ("Application(s)") for use with Microsoft Windows and/or Windows NT.
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To summarise the legal rights you are afforded under the licence and the associated responsibilities that are carried with them,

1. You may use the software to create your own copyright software for either personal or commercial use.
2. The software is not redistributable.
3. The software may only be used with Microsoft Operating Systems.

Microsoft have advised that they will enforce their rights of ownership under the EULA if it used for projects for non-Microsoft Operating Systems or Open source projects so neither type of project should be undertaken using the WIN98 binaries.

The EULA for the WIN98DDK is enclosed in the MASM32 project and it is the formal statement of your rights and responsibilities when using the Microsoft binaries.

This situation may change in the future if another or different licence is negotiated with Microsoft for use of later binaries in the MASM32 Project.

The legality of a programmer using the binaries from the WIN98DDK are beyond question as Microsoft have from time to time changed the download location and the conditions surrounding the download but by Microsoft making the download available to any programmer who wants it, the user need only comply with the conditions of the enclosed EULA to have the legal right to use the software and distribute the work they write using it.

Admin' EDIT:
For any who are interested, here is the Microsoft WIN98DDK.
It would appear to Only be available via the "Internet Archive", see here:
Microsoft Windows DDK WDK