Is your Windows license legal? Should you even care?
Summary
That sentence, which has scrolled past PC users eyeballs for decades as they click through Windows license agreements without reading them, is what made Bill Gates rich. It is also the gateway to an insanely confusing thicket of legal verbiage, and Microsoft has made the topic even more bewildering through the years by adding layers of anti-piracy protection that are only indirectly related to the license itself. During that time, Ive written dozens of articles on the subject and have prepared testimony as an expert witness in criminal and civil cases where Microsoft licensing was at the crux of some serious disagreements. Over time, Microsoft discovered that it was in the companys best interests to tolerate a certain amount of casual copying as part of its goal of not pissing off legitimate customers. For a big OEM (think Dell, HP, Lenovo, ASUS, or Acer), the price list for Windows licenses is a closely guarded secret.