Re: product key

Daave wrote:

Ken Blake wrote:
"Daave" <dcwashNOSPAM@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:eitMGLixHHA.3616@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Merlin wrote:
There is no place where you can download a legitimate copy of
Windows XP.

I'm not sure I agree, and here's my logic:

The issue does not revolve around the copy of the installation disk
but rather with the license. Assuming a person wishing to install XP
has the license to do so, I believe he could borrow my installation
CD (as long as it's the same type, of course). So how is this
different from me uploading it to an FTP server for him to download
it? He could download it and install it using his legitimate product
key, no?


Although you may be technically correct, if you modify Merlin's
statement to read "There is no *public* place where you can download
a legitimate copy of Windows X," what he said is right.

And since most people would infer the word "public" in that sentence
even if it's not there, essentially it's pretty much correct as it
stands. And further, in the context of this thread, when cm says "I
have a downloaded version of Windows XP Pro," almost anyone would
infer from that that he means he has a pirated version that he
downloaded from some unauthorized public site.

Assuming the copy is publically available, though, as long as the
person who is downloading it has the proper license, how is it
different than borrowing a physical CD? The means may be different,
but the end is identical. And nothing has been stolen by the person
downloading the file.


Except that the pirate sites presumably give you a pirated key along with
the download.

But I don't know the answer to your question, and whether or how the law
would treat the two differently. I'm certainly not a lawye, and am probably
already over my head in this, so I'll bow out now.

--
Ken Blake - Microsoft MVP Windows: Shell/User
Please reply to the newsgroup

If this became a criminal (or even a civil) case, couldn't an attorney
effectively prove that the person didn't break any laws?


.

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