help me understand about license in computers...
By surfer222
@surfer222 (1714)
Indonesia
November 9, 2011 5:58am CST
Living in a country where a software piracy is everywhere, i grow up don't understand too much about license in computers. I know now that using a pirated cd is illegal so i use open source software for my PC. What i want to ask is about instruction set license. When AMD built an x86 compatible processor, AMD have to buy intel a license to x86, is this true? Then how can a virtualization project such as virtualbox or qemu don't have to pay any license for emulating an x86 cpu? How come the emulation project don't have to paid for anything? can anyone explain it?
3 responses
@jjzone44 (917)
• United States
9 Nov 11
Hi Surfer
A license for software or a technology protects the intellectual property of that piece of software or in the case of x86, the technology. AMD and Intel have an agreement for the license. It becomes a real legal mess because AMD owns some 64 bit patents, but they run on the x86 platform (x86-64). x86 is an instruction set, so therefore it is intellectual property and subject to licensure.
When you speak of a virtual box, it emulates an environment, but does not actually use it the same way an install of an Operating System does. It runs on an x86 device, but the physical processor and the instruction set have already been licensed by the manufacturer of the machine. You are just running the software on it. A virtual environment will not run unless there is an underlying OS to install the VM (Virtual Machine) onto. The VM does have a license, but only to the extent that any other piece of software has a license.
Hope that helps
@surfer222 (1714)
• Indonesia
10 Nov 11
Thank's jjzone44... it help me understand a little bit.... Now several years back there's also a processor manufacturer called transmeta and its processor was named crusoe. This processor never made it to my country but i've read that this processor also emulate both x86 and arm instructions (if i'm not misinformed ). Did this processor manufacturer is also have to have an agreement for x86 instruction with intel or this processor was treated like this virtualization software?
@jjzone44 (917)
• United States
10 Nov 11
You're welcome lovedude and surfer.
The Transmeta Crusoe processor did license the x86 instruction set from Intel, but it was a different kind of deal. The Crusoe had a built in virtual machine that emulated the x86 instruction set, but Crusoe had it's own native core instruction set. One of the ideas behind the processor was that it would consume less voltage by using software emulation instead of physical transistors. This made it a good candidate for mobile devices at the time. So even though the processor in effect had a type of virtual machine, it is still physical hardware that utilized the x86 instruction set. Besides that, the VM of the Crusoe was intended to allow an OS and other software to run on the VM, instead of the VM running on the OS, so that is where the major difference came in.
@deadlywario0 (57)
• United States
13 Nov 11
As for virtulization I am glad you made that connection other-wise I would have to. This works I'm sure by the combined companies realizing that this software if it becomes regular can be sold for a huge profit margin. Thus making the companies very eager to cooperate. I am sure it is very "elite" if you will regarding regulations and distribution.
