Haha, and today I see this. https://www.tomshardware.com/news/chatgpt-generates-windows-11-pro-keys I laugh ironically at M$ when even AI helps you pirate your poor choice in OS. "Well if you must use windoze, here's a key..." Mostly exploiting the same OEM key vs proper licensing. Microsoft paved the way to hell on this one, yet they oddly remain profitable! -mb On Sat, Jun 17, 2023 at 9:00 PM Michael Butash wrote: > Great input, thanks! > > I'm as much as economist as a lawyer, (ie. not, too angry), but love > exploring these weird corner cases. Most cases my customers are already > paying for windoze licenses for me, even office, visio, other things I > might request, but I tend to need them locally on systems, and keep > windows+visio/project accordingly as vm's myself. If I ask a company, it's > like $1000 service catalog fee for office+visio+project+windoze itself. Or > I just buy it myself for all out the door $40 and ignore the PHB problems. > > If I were a mega corp, I'd exploit these just to do so and see what > Microsoft does. I skirt the line of business and personal use, and feel no > remorse for any wrongs against The Beast Microsoft. I have to imagine some > do, I'd love to hear the war stories. > > My Microsoft use is mostly educational, running domain software stacks > that are windoze-only, as I need to interact with products around it in > literally any enterprise today. I was pondering buying some server keys > to build out modern AD (fsmo, gc, ldap, kb5) to test some software > integration like NAC features (packetfence) and some vendor integrations > around a "typical" enterprise setting. > > I'm not making money on microsoft, just mostly need to understand how > broken it is when my customer admins ask me what to do with their domain > crap. It's not bad to have a small test domain around ala contoso.com > with accounts to test against for security features, as every poor bastard > needs windoze around... > > -mb > > > On Fri, Jun 16, 2023 at 2:20 PM trent shipley via PLUG-discuss < > plug-discuss@lists.phxlinux.org> wrote: > >> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Market_segmentation >> >> From a producer perspective, segmentation is GOOD. >> From a producer perspective producing the Nth copy of a good almost for >> free is fantastic. >> >> But if consumers can ALSO copy and distribute your product at very, very >> low cost, that is Very Bad. >> >> On Fri, Jun 16, 2023 at 11:33 AM AZ Pete via PLUG-discuss < >> plug-discuss@lists.phxlinux.org> wrote: >> >>> Just to chime in here as a long time Windows user (SQL Server DBA), you >>> technically don't even need a key to run Windows. I run several Windows VMs >>> in "unactivated" mode and have never run into any issues (I don't really >>> like "wasting" keys on VMs). Granted that there a few restrictions, such as >>> being unable to change desktop wallpaper, customize taskbar, etc. >>> Generally, "look and feel" features. But, you will get all the security >>> updates and retain full functionality of the O/S and it won't "expire". >>> Note that this applies to Windows desktop, Windows Server will "expire" >>> after about four months after which you must reinstall the O/S (total BS >>> since SQL Server Developer edition is free & never expires, but the license >>> is for dev purposes only not production use). I have bought keys from >>> Kinguin.net over the years, but haven't done so it a while. They are legit >>> keys, but technically they are OEM keys. A bit of a "grey" area, but use >>> you're own judgement. >>> >>> Hope this helps, >>> Peter >>> >>> >>> On 6/16/2023 7:31 AM, Anthony Radzykewycz via PLUG-discuss wrote: >>> >>> I’m curious to know if the keys bought off this site would match any >>> keys found in places like this: >>> https://gist.github.com/jhermsmeier/5959110. Also, what would be the >>> liability if you paid for the license and that key was pirated like this? >>> To be clear, I agree with the advocation of getting these keys as >>> inexpensively as possible. Just thought I’d throw this out there and maybe >>> you could do a quick compare just in case. >>> >>> On Fri, Jun 16, 2023 at 7:24 AM Keith Smith via PLUG-discuss < >>> plug-discuss@lists.phxlinux.org> wrote: >>> >>>> Thanks for sharing this Michael!! If I can get a legit copy of Win10 >>>> and Win11 for cheep I will eventually install on a VM. >>>> >>>> >>>> On 2023-06-16 04:21, Michael Butash via PLUG-discuss wrote: >>>> >> Are the installation discs sufficient to install Win10 on a no-OS >>>> > computer (or a Linux computer with some extra space on the root >>>> > drive)? >>>> > >>>> > Yep, you install the iso from microsoft.com [1] so it's legit, vm or >>>> > hardware, give it a key during/after install, and off to the races. >>>> > >>>> > -mb >>>> > >>>> > On Thu, Jun 15, 2023 at 11:15 PM Steve Litt via PLUG-discuss >>>> > wrote: >>>> > >>>> >> Michael Butash via PLUG-discuss said on Thu, 15 Jun 2023 18:22:08 >>>> >> -0700 >>>> >> >>>> >>> So interestingly enough, if/when I need windoze, I often buy from a >>>> >>> place like THIS, as a method of getting Windoze officially >>>> >> licensed, >>>> >>> flat cheap. >>>> >>> >>>> > < >>>> http://mail.sendmailco.com/index.php/campaigns/tb637ap0sybfa/track-url/gv224svhyh867/11430a51e55c5971d23f31e2e7ede8b0f9331165 >>>> > >>>> >>> It updates itself, never had a problem, and simply just works. >>>> >> >>>> >> Are these legitimate licenses, or Far-East knockoffs? >>>> >> >>>> >> Are the installation discs sufficient to install Win10 on a no-OS >>>> >> computer (or a Linux computer with some extra space on the root >>>> >> drive)? >>>> >> >>>> >> Can you install these as Qemu guests on my Linux computer? >>>> >> >>>> >> Thanks, >>>> >> >>>> >> SteveT >>>> >> >>>> >> Steve Litt >>>> >> Autumn 2022 featured book: Thriving in Tough Times >>>> >> http://www.troubleshooters.com/bookstore/thrive.htm >>>> >> --------------------------------------------------- >>>> >> PLUG-discuss mailing list: PLUG-discuss@lists.phxlinux.org >>>> >> To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings:why you >>>> >> need a mentor >>>> >> https://lists.phxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss >>>> > >>>> > >>>> > Links: >>>> > ------ >>>> > [1] http://microsoft.com >>>> > --------------------------------------------------- >>>> > PLUG-discuss mailing list: PLUG-discuss@lists.phxlinux.org >>>> > To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings: >>>> > https://lists.phxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss >>>> --------------------------------------------------- >>>> PLUG-discuss mailing list: PLUG-discuss@lists.phxlinux.org >>>> To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings: >>>> https://lists.phxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss >>>> >>> >>> --------------------------------------------------- >>> PLUG-discuss mailing list: PLUG-discuss@lists.phxlinux.org >>> To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings:https://lists.phxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss >>> >>> --------------------------------------------------- >>> PLUG-discuss mailing list: PLUG-discuss@lists.phxlinux.org >>> To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings: >>> https://lists.phxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss >>> >> --------------------------------------------------- >> PLUG-discuss mailing list: PLUG-discuss@lists.phxlinux.org >> To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings: >> https://lists.phxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss >> >