Licensing with XP… TCP Connections

I have been doing a bit of research as to what the license restrictions are on XP. Specifically with TCP servers. Firstly have a look at the EULA for XP Home. The XP Pro is the same but it substitutes 10 connections. It says

1.3 Device Connections. You may permit a maximum of five (5) computers or other electronic devices (each a “Device”) to connect to the Workstation Computer to utilize one or more of the following services of the Software: File Services, Print Services, Internet Information Services, and remote access (including connection sharing and telephony services). The five connection maximum includes any indirect connections made through “multiplexing” or other software or hardware which pools or aggregates connections. This five connection maximum does not apply to any other uses of the Software.

Contrast this with the Knowledgebase which states

For Windows XP Professional, the maximum number of other computers that are permitted to simultaneously connect over the network is ten. This limit includes all transports and resource sharing protocols combined. For Windows XP Home Edition, the maximum number of other computers that are permitted to simultaneously connect over the network is five.

The person who wrote the knowledgebase article needs to re-read the EULA. Specifically the license says that the limit does not apply to any other uses of the software apart from IIS, Remote Access, File and Print Sharing, specifically using Microsoft supplied software. Since other TRANSPORTS includes TCP, the knowledgebase infers that I cannot create a server to accept connections from 1000 devices without violating the license.

This is not correct. The knowledgebase is wrong. Lets see if Microsoft is willing to update it.

To increase the number of concurrent connections to IIS,

Click here