Re: Life of the machine
Go back a little further and the licence was for one machine at a time and the only limit on that was finding something compatible in working order (or later on, an emulator). Support was often "only thing that will be fixed is defective installation media" and the only remedy available for any problem (including burning your office to the ground) was replacement installation media. The warranty was "it will work broadly in line with the printed documentation" and the printed documentation was a small card with installation instructions. Any other form of support required money.
I have no problem with Microsoft saying the license for the software you have lasts forever but there will be no updates. They wrote the code, they choose the licence. On the other hand, my "no source code, no sale" policy means I dealt with this problem when it first reared its ugly head last millennium.
Always read the EULA (unless it is over 20 pages long in which case there is no point as you have already found proof that the offer is a scam).
Biting the hand that feeds IT
