XPost: comp.os.linux.advocacy   
   From: pothead@snakebite.com   
      
   On 2026-01-20, Joel W. Crump  wrote:   
   > On 1/19/26 6:43 PM, rbowman wrote:   
   >> On 19 Jan 2026 15:14:43 GMT, CrudeSausage wrote:   
   >>   
   >>> It's still not clear whether those keys are actually legal or not.   
   >>> Microsoft seems to be turning a blind eye to the whole thing though,   
   >>> possibly because they don't mind having more installs.   
   >>   
   >> When I bought the Beelink SER4 it came with Windows 11 Pro. That seemed a   
   >> little sketchy, given the price. Not wanting to use illegally licensed   
   >> software I immediately overwrote it with Ubuntu :)   
   >   
   >   
   > My 11 Pro license was traceable with PowerShell and Copilot's   
   > instructions.  I showed some output to Copilot and as we figured it was   
   > just a typical gray-market mass license, likely very a common type for a   
   > company in China producing inexpensive PCs.   
   >   
   > Ultimately, if I were to judge this segment of the industry by my own   
   > experience, there wasn't anything at all wrong with Win11 as   
   > preinstalled.  I purchased a discounted year of Norton to just ease my   
   > mind and it found nothing.  Switching to Linux wasn't difficult.   
   > Microsoft has a digital license for my device if for some reason I   
   > wanted to lose perfection.   
   >   
   I use Linux however most of my friends use Windows and they purchase keys   
   online   
   from sellers with good reputations.   
   If the key should not work for some reason, they will send you another key.   
   These keys are extra keys that major corporations purchase but have never used   
   for whatever reason so they sell them to brokers.   
      
   They are legit in the sense of the key however since you purchased from a   
   broker   
   and don't actually work for the corporation who originally purchased the key   
   that part is a grey area.   
      
   Evidently Microsoft doesn't care.   
   A key is a key is a key.   
   Fortunately it doesn't affect me at all.   
      
   --   
   pothead   
      
   “Liberals seem to assume that, if you don’t believe in their particular   
   political solutions, then you don’t really care about   
   the people that they claim to want to help.”   
      
   ― Thomas Sowell   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)