Yeh,

But what "Guest" is presumably worried about, like other vendors, is that this could be the start of many other restrictions in the EULA.

One of the most attractive features of MapPoint is its simple EULA and the fact that you can use it for any purpose or application. This is what has been called "the rat in the kitchen" of GIS/LBS. Chase it, and you will either find the "kitchen is bigger than anyone anticipated" OR "the kitchen has just become part of the "McSoft-franchise" and you can only eat burgers there (although they are surele tasty). Meaning, the market could be grown by Microsofts marketing and reach in the business and consumer markets OR data vendors have just sold out to become extremely dependant of -one- software vendor. It's a Catch22 in the end, since we all know MS has been, is and will be making the software we want to sell, but we all kind of fear losing grip on innovation.

My opinion: if there is a company that has proven to be able to innovate in this market as well as Microsoft is expected to do, show some hands! Would it be ESRI? MapInfo? Autodesk??

Of course, NavTech HAD to impose these restrictions to appease their other vendors. There was only one alternative for NavTech which was to trust in the -volume- Microsoft should be able to generate, which could make the risk of subtitution much easier to swallow for NavTech.

I guess now they themselves must face the risk of being substituted by Microsoft itself. Only one other vendor out there capable of doing that as we all know. I must wonder what their plans are now...