Loophole enables anyone to get a Windows 8 license for free

Stunt if I ever saw one. Poor sells, come up with a story to get it for free and the rest will follow!

wait what?

Windows 8 and Windows 7 aren't server OS's...

Well ofcourse with sales down and them wanting to move foward with things that already have planned out it makes sense! They still are coming out with the surface pro and software probably will make more money off the office 2013 than win 8 if they don't act lol... I am sure they also wish to make money off their app store! I setup a laptop for my mother with win 8! Have you seen the prices of some of the things in the store? I am starting to like unbutu better than windows altho win7 is still #1 in my book. I probably won't buy windows 8 for myself until they can make a gaming laptop with a 17" touch screen and atleast the best i7! I have been waiting forever hopefully 2013 will be more promising!!

Okay, I can assure this is a marketing tactic because of the poor sales figures of Windows 8. I have been preaching against upgrading to Windows 8 ever since I first found out the UI was primarily a tablet interface. But I immediately clicked the link and requested my free key. It's something about "free" that most people can't resist I guess.

I actually believe that the only way Windows 8 can succeed at this point is by giving it away for free. Other than nerds who can't resist the lure of new technology most people have not be convincing that upgrading to a new OS that boots 3 nanoseconds faster than the previous operating system is worth enduring the catastrophic interface that one must use the "other" 99.9% of the time that people aren't "booting". I am one which falls into that category.

I can't stand Windows 8 yet I just requested my "free" key. My defense be temporary insanity. I still don't feel like bothering with a brand-new operating system upgrade at this point. Even if it is better under the hood(that part I wont dispute) Windows 7 is good enough. So why put myself through the pain. My gut still tells me just to kick back for years, wait for Windows 9. Microsoft will hopefully give "everybody" what they want next time around and not just tablet users.

This loophole has been available for a month; from the sound of it, before the retail release of Windows 8. Reconcile that with your marketing tactic theory.

I'm going to stick with the virtually endless string of naked slavic beauties on my Win 7 desktop. People can use the Fisher-Price set of blocks on Metro, if that's what fires their imaginations.

If my HDD Win 7 install doesn't boot as fast as as a Win 8 with SSD, no problem. I just consider it "foreplay".

Can anyone confirm this?

Well I am at work, so I guess It's fitting.Didn't come off as a joke, but I guess many things don't on the net. And I just offered it as a opposing opinion, I wasn't really serious...as it wouldn't be my money being hurt. That's just something I'd expect warez-here.com(random name don't know if it's real) would do.

Well, they took away my beloved, "rolleyes" emoticon, which was my "tell".

Why can't just you conform with your co-workers, and surf for pr0n during working hours?

Getting bogged down in an internalized ethical dilemma, does no one any good, and in extreme cases, could lead to temporary impotence.

All kidding aside, the emoticons in this software all look alike to me. They pretty much share the same expression as someone who just sat on their own thumb, and doesn't know whether to enjoy the rush, or make a mad dash to the nearest confessional. (Phew, talk about ethical and moral dilemmas),

What are you still doing at work anyway? Don't you have a headache to fake, and a turkey to buy?

@ captn. Well we're the relatives that the entire family seems to converge upon come the holidays, so there isn't much hustle and bustle for me this holiday season. A bunch of us opted to take a non-traditional holiday off earlier this year. We'll be off thursday and friday just not today.

Christmas time though, a entirely different story.

OR... MS doesn't say anything about it being a "free" copy in hopes it boost sales in the Apps dept.

In all reality, Windows didn't come with "WGA"s as part of its feature set. It was added later.

With that said, I'm going to cling to my conspiracy theory, and I extend a joyous invitation for you to join me in paranoiaville, by clinging to yours also.

We can have, "separate but equal" conspiracy theories.

People are going to start paying for Windows apps? What the hell is this world coming to?

Ok, so what is the product key to install Windows 8 RTM for x64? I'm at a standstill trying to install this in a vm.

I'm getting that you don't need one from reading the full news article. You need the key to the Media Center add-on. (Big question mark there & a couple s for good measure).

Great comeback, bravo sir.

I want to try out W8 but, doubt il stay with it long, W7 till W9 unless W9 will blow.

Just a thought, but wouldn't Windows 9 be almost guaranteed to blow even more, if people take to liking Windows 8. If M$ thinks they can get away with it, they're liable to bring 9 out sooner, given a public outcry for it.

That's how I took it as well, however, I'm stuck on the "Enter the product key to activate Windows" screen.

I heard windows 9 would be in RP next week.

@peperonikiller Win7 and Win8 have the same kernels as the server variants. Server does not have MCE though. I use Win7 Ultimate as a file server (smb & ftp) and media centre. Depends really on what the other poster was referring to when they say "server".

Um, the answer is possibly here somewhere: https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-USfficial&channel=s&hl=en&source=hp&biw=&bih=&q=Product key Windows 8 RT&oq=Product key Windows 8 RT&gs_l=firefox-hp.3..0l2j0i5l2j0i8l6.2859.13222.0.13747.24.16.0.8.8.0.118.1660.3j13.16.0...0.0...1ac.1.nWva-EADKo8#hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=H5K&tbo=d&rls=org.mozilla:en-USfficial&channel=s&sclient=psy-ab&q=Product key Windows 8 RTM&oq=Product key Windows 8 RTM&gs_l=serp.3..0l2j0i5l2.97014.97014.0.97415.1.1.0.0.0.0.139.139.0j1.1.0.les;..0.0...1c.1.uDuDKwVdWOk&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&fp=d51c3d8e1d6dcb61&bpcl=38897761&biw=1051&bih=1705 although I surely wouldn't bet on it. There's a lot of conflicting info on this search page. (along with a DMCA complaint.._.