OK, I'm going to word this very carefully as I got banned from another site for asking this. I want to make it clear that I am not advocating piracy, nor am I asking how to pirate any kind of software.
That being said I was wondering if perhaps any of you had a friend who had used a pirated copy of Windows? Did he/she have a smooth experience when using it? I only ask because I have a friend who is considering using one as he is building a new system and isn't keen on forking over more money for something he has already paid for.
However, I have used several "Cracked" copies of windows long term in a virtual environment for testing purposes. I do not know what the effects are long term in a real world scenario, as it never connected to the internet except for a few security updates one time.
I always used pirated installations before I got dreamspark and I still make pirated installations for other people.
There's no difference in usage whatsoever between a licensed copy and a pirated one, if we are talking about Windows 7. Just google "loader by daz" and open the first link.
This thing works absolutely flawlessly, you can install any updates or service packs on your system and the activation will still hold. I didn't have any problems with it over the years and haven't received a single complaint from people who I installed it for.
I read the rules carefully and stated pretty strongly that I am not asking for a 'how to'. Is it really so bad to talk about it? As long as no one's telling people how to do it than surely it's ok to have a discussion isn't it?
A man needs windows from an ambiguous source. A man is informed that it runs perfectly fine just like the legit version and the experience is the same.