Activation codes for sale - Your thoughts?

[foxdelta]

Hey guys,

Thanks for reading.

A friend of mine recently directed me to the (....) website where there are literally thousands (perhaps millions) of sellers selling software activation codes with download links to the software. These codes literally sell for anything from a couple of dollars to tens of dollars. For instance a Windows 7 Ultimate Full Retail 32 or 64 bit activation key sells for $7.99. How is this possible? Judging by the feedback, the activation codes work. Am I missing a trick here or does this sound decidedly dodgy? I am wondering if they are stolen codes or Technet account codes?

Appreciate some discussion on this one.

Many thanks.

 

[bobcat]

Firtstly, at those prices, software has to be piratic and thus illegal. As you should know, this board doesn’t allow anything illegal.

Then there is the ethical aspect.

It is also known that pirated software is always potentially dangerous.

But even more important than the above, would you trust those people with your personal data? If you fall victim, you’d hardly have recourse to the law, as you’d have broken it yourself. You can’t pretend you didn’t know.

Finally, I’ve heard of that site or a similar one in the Far East, and it seems to have a very bad reputation in various respects. Among others, it sells the same keys to several customers and they get blacklisted after a while.

 

[hellokitty[hk]]

Don't do it, if your're wondering..

 

[DelJo63]

while they will happily TAKE your $$$ - - - they may not return anything of value other than
a big FUSE with Microsoft and a TON OF PROBLEMS when you need an update.

ps: You get what you pay for. Caveat Emptor.

 

[captaincranky]

I saved this link to "Windows 8", http://ceo2009.softarchive.net/windows_ultimate_pro_zx.62942.html although I personally wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole. It's pretty much the same s***, different day, with a bit of a twist,, as Windows activation codes being sold. I really didn't think that people had the iron to overtly try something like this. I thought you were supposed to get it, along with an heaping helping of malware, by "secretly" downloading it from Limewire....