• @[email protected]
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    11 year ago

    Nope. On all of my machines I installed Windows 10 using an official usb boot disk with a distro straight from Microsoft. It was 100% free, I didn’t need an account, and I’m not being prompted to activate, nor do I have the annoying little watermark in the bottom right of my screen.

    I seriously don’t understand how people are paying to use Windows when Microsoft gives it away for free.

    • @[email protected]
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      31 year ago

      Were those OEM machines? Often times OEM computers will come with a Windows OS license during purchase and I think Windows may check the hardware thumbprint of the machine and license it automatically. Windows 10/11 is certainly not free for people who build their own machine from parts.