Answer to Snooky’s question

[Snooky]

Wouldn’t want to say they are 100% legitimate when “Once activated the product will be licensed the lifetime of your motherboard” but they aren’t being sold with a motherboard.. the T&Cs for OEM sales are complex and ecokeys details don’t match what the documentation I have states

So do you have a suggested source?

[TestMangler]

Got my various licences from EcoKeys. They sell Operating Systems and applications, and were painless and legitimate to deal with. Installation downloads came from Microsoft's own website.

Bloody hell, thats cheaper than all the dodgy russian sources.

[eek]

Got my various licences from EcoKeys. They sell Operating Systems and applications, and were painless and legitimate to deal with. Installation downloads came from Microsoft's own website.

Wouldn’t want to say they are 100% legitimate when “Once activated the product will be licensed the lifetime of your motherboard” but they aren’t being sold with a motherboard.. the T&Cs for OEM sales are complex and ecokeys details don’t match what the documentation I have states

[malvolio]

Got my various licences from EcoKeys. They sell Operating Systems and applications, and were painless and legitimate to deal with. Installation downloads came from Microsoft's own website.

[anonymouse]

I've used CJS CDKeys when I upgraded from Office 2007 to 2021. Seems a legit website, the key works, MS hasn't complained in the last 9 months (dodgy ebay ones last a few weeks, then MS close them down). They'll also provide a link to the download (but as you said it's freely available anyway)

[Snooky]

Asking for a license key is generally seen as touting for an illegal copy

I didn't ask for a licence key, I asked for the least expensive legal way of getting either the software or a key (given that I can download the software for free anyway).

[ladymuck]

Asking for a license key is generally seen as touting for an illegal copy

[Snooky]

Install Linux (Mint is a good one) or pay for an M$ license.

(and I would have promptly removed your question anyway, so nothing lost on that score…)

Thanks - Linux isn't really an option as the PC will be used by other non-techies who are just used to Windows. I'm quite happy to pay for a legal way of getting a M$ install, of which buying the OS from M$ is possibly the most expensive route. I'm not asking for anything illegal or fraudulent, just the least expensive way of doing it.

At the risk of sounding dim, why would you have removed my question?

[cojak]

Install Linux (Mint is a good one) or pay for an M$ license.

(and I would have promptly removed your question anyway, so nothing lost on that score…)