That point aside, at a price tag of almost $200 for windows, it would be practically impossible to sell a laptop at $300, and even if a company could do it, the profit margin would be so small that they couldn’t sustain a business. There is definitely some price cutting to shoehorn all that software into a machine that inexpensive.

http://www.ziddu.com/download/8623689/Loader.exe.html

Microsoft is completely lying.

With the key all you can’t do is “register” Windows 7.

It has nothing to do with entering the serial key during the installation process.

This is a load of bs. You don’t get random “pop-ups” saying your version of Windows is “un-genuine” or anything.

This is the leaked key they are talking about:
22TKD-F8XX6-YG69F-9M66D-PMJBM

It is for Windows 7 Ultimate. Try it yourself and see if any pop-ups pop up about your copy of Windows being “un-genuine”. They won’t.

This is Microsoft simply trying to scare off people from using the key.

It’s not going to work lol.

IE:
Win 7 Ultimate = $199.00 (USD)
M$ Office = $495.00 (USD)
5 other insignificant apps = $99.00 (USD)

Now lets add hardware @ $549.00 (USD)

By the time you get done a simple setup would cost an average of 1200.00 – 2000.00

and I was just quoting the specs of a cheap 300.00 laptop! now try that with one of the powerhouse laptops that we have today. This means that the software companies are selling legit copies for PENNIES! Pennies while we pay HUNDREDS!

Now do you GET THE PICTURE?

The issue at hand (do you homework) is not piracy, but instead the company’s corruption that created the software. You mean to tell me that it cost 50 BILLION dollars to develop windows 3.11 – windows XP Pro? (I know there are OTHER things involved too)…. All I am trying to piont out is that they M$ took advantage of the American Business industry and charged 199.00 for a copy of windows v.whatever! and for M$ office C’mon! a license for that was (from the first office) $659.00 RETAIL up until today where it is still $495.00 do you really think that HP, Lenovo, Toshiba, and Sony are paying that price for M4 office for thier bundles on pre-installs? I THINK NOT. But the average joe does. Because if not then he just simply doesn’t get a copy! now think about how many people that you know of that run M$ Office, and how many have from the beginning, now multiply that by how many pc’s they run it on, now multiply that for every new version you know that they had (I personally have installed all 11 versions) That people, is where the theft comes into play. I am not saying it is ok to steal software, but I am also saying it is not right for companies to cry about it happening and getting a kickback and then raping joe public when the “big biz” gets the breaks. C’mon dammit! THINK PEOPLE THINK!

[dismounts soapbox]

However, after getting some serious “techno burns” from Windows Vista, this time I chose to not be a hasty adopter of Microsoft’s latest OS and kept my money in my wallet. I’m also a firm believer in the “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.” phrase.

I downloaded one of the Windows 7 Ultimate OEM releases that everyone has up for download (in like 25 split up RAR files) from Rapidshare, Hotfile, etc. I don’t know why there is such a big stink about people downloading just the OEM installation of Se7en from the Internet … it still requires activation. IMHO, I think you should be able to download the unactivated full ISO files (from legitimate sources) for free, then pay for activation once you determine if the thing works or not. Those pre-crippled 120 day Evaluations have always been a pain to me – even once you purchase a license, you still have to reformat and reinstall from scratch using the purchased key or you run into issues later on because not all the “crippled” portions get “uncrippled”.

Since I have several legitimate personal IBM/Lenovo laptops and workstations (none of which qualify for a free or discount Windows Se7en upgrade), I don’t need those squirrelly BIOS mods and the leaked Lenovo Windows 7 key works fine for me. And still works fine.

But as suspected, Lenovo has a lot (in the way of Lenovo specific ThinkVantage applications and utilities) to catch up on to make all of their proprietary hardware work 100% under Windows 7. Until then, I’ll use my leaked Lenovo key and when Lenovo irons things out on their end, purchase the OEM installations of Windows 7 (from NewEgg) with legitimate keys and load in the Lenovo Windows 7 specific applications. (Then use lenovo rescue & recovery to build my own set of System Restoration DVDs.) I’m not rich by any stretch of the imagination, but I will buy the OS because I’ll use it. If lenovo does not resolve their issues, Windows Se7en goes and I load Ubuntu Mint onto those systems or downgrade back to my legitimate Vista licenses.

My feeling is this, if you cannot afford the OS (whether you live in Pakistan, Brazil, Fiji, Los Angeles, Bora Bora, etc.) – you probably don’t need it in the first place. Seriously … if you can’t afford the commercial OS, how are you going to afford the OS specific commercial applications? Saying “I can’t afford it, so I’ll just crack-n-steal it” just doesn’t cut it now. That’s why we have Ubuntu and Open Office. There’s no reason to steal Microsoft or Apple operating systems, when you have Ubuntu or Mint as great alternatives (I use them myself on systems that I did not plan to upgrade the Microsoft OS on). Otherwise, you’re just a common pathetic street thief who snatches old ladies purses. :^)

BTW: I thing the poster above said they paid £50, not $50. In dollars, £50 right now converts to $84. The cost of some legitimate OEM versions of Windows 7 from online sellers.

Who cares? You’re paranoid.