Microsoft strong-arms the Nexus

This one is interesting. I received the following e-mail this week fromMicrosoft's Elizabeth Boyle:

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   It has come to Microsoft's attention that Internet-Nexus is distributing   the following Microsoft software products, Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack   3, Outlook 97 Internet Mail Enhancement Patch Beta 3, and Internet   Explorer 4.0 Platform Preview 1 via its web site at   http://www.internet-nexus.com.

   Per the "Terms of Use" notice regarding software made available for   download from the Microsoft.com server: "Any reproduction or   redistribution of the Software not in accordance with the License   Agreement is expressly prohibited by law, and may result in severe civil   and criminal penalties."  (For a complete copy see   http://www.microsoft.com/misc/cpyright.htm)  The redistribution by   Internet-Nexus of the above-named Microsoft software products is outside   the scope of the license agreement and is therefore considered   infringing. 

   By this notification Microsoft seeks to address the serious nature of   the redistribution of these products and demands that you immediately   cease and desist redistribution of such product and that these download   links be removed from your web site within five (5) working days.   Further, Microsoft reserves its right to pursue all legal remedies   available relative to the distribution of unlicensed or illegal products   by Internet-Nexus or its Internet Service Provider. 

   If you have any questions regarding this matter, please contact me via   e-mail or directly at (206) 936-3847. 

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Now, I can't imagine how this harms Microsoft, but the Nexus does have avery high speed connection and I've gotten numerous thank-you's from peoplewho were able to download software from us much more quickly than at Microsoft's own site. Here is my response to this e-mail:

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   Elizabeth,

   While I question the ethics of your problem with our "distribution"   of free software, I will certainly abide by your request and remove   the offending programs within five days.

   We are interested, however, in distributing this software since we   offer our users a high bandwidth connection. How might we become    involved with licensing the right to do this? The hyperlink you quote   does not address this issue.

   Thanks,
   Paul Thurrott

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Her response to this, as you might expect, was not exactly what I had inmind.

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   Thank you for your prompt response to our request.  At this time, if you   would like to continue to offer your customers access to these Microsoft   products, the only way we can authorize this distribution is for you to   establish a direct link to the Microsoft web site where the download can   take place.

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The end result, of course, is that we will be removing the downloads shementions early next week (we'll be waiting the full five days, naturally).If you haven't downloaded these items and you'd like to, you should do sosoon. Unfortunately, Microsoft wishes to control the downloading of freesoftware and we don't see any easy way to fight this. The sad thing, of course,is that we are evangelizing Microsoft software--for free--and they decide totreat us like this. It's unfortunate