It's awesome.  I posted an ad on craigslist looking to borrow someone's Win 7 software for my new computer.  Thus far I have gotten emails from two different people calling be an idiot scammer because I'm trying to get the software for free or that was trying to steal people's identities.  BOTH of these guys are people who claim to be in the "computer business".  One says he's been an IT guy for fifteen years.

What kind of IT guy doesn't know how software licensing works?

LOL, so explain how you borrow a license?

You don't borrow a license.

Well you make fun of people elaborate so the rest of us can get the joke? I assume at great danger you are making fun of peoples ignorance?

If you have the license, why don't you just download the software from Microsoft's site?  

Microsoft is majorly cracking down on the (abuse) of their enterprise-class media. You used to be able to use it to install pretty much on an infinite number of machines. None of my wholesalers even carry media anymore; we have to purchase it directly from MS.

Edit: perhaps we're simply missing the point of your post, mak. 

Quote from: pandy on February 26, 2010, 10:42:02 PMIf you have the license, why don't you just download the software from Microsoft's site?  

I don't have the means to download and burn a 7.5gb 64-bit OS.

The big thing is I wanted to try Win 7 before buying...I have an alumni friend who was able to get me Pro for cheap but he wasn't going to be able to get it to me until March.  I already had all of my computer stuff there but no OS.  So I Was going to borrow the software...actually, in the end, a friend of mine ended up burning the software from MS for me (he had to buy a dual layer burner for another project and I benefited yay friends!).

The point is that you can install the software on as many machines as you want, as many times as you want...you can DL the software for free...you can lend it out...whatever you want.  There's no personal information attached to it.  No one can steal your identity by getting your software.  You have to buy a license for EVERY machine, though.

Yes, I don't get that identify-theft worry. Are you able to do a full install without the key? I imagine it's akin to a 30-day trial? I haven't done a Win7 install yet, and it's been a while since I've done an XP install...plus I'm getting dotty in my old age. 

Yeah you can actuallly download Ultimate and ti's a full install.  You can use it for 30 days before needing to register it but you can renew the trial three times.