The Silent Number

Posted: 2007-09-19

Here's a beautiful way to rip off Microsoft. I haven't actually tried this since i prefer to run only operating systems that don't suck but i have heard from a friend that he has tried this and it works.

All you need to do to acquire a valid CD key is go to any major computer retail store and copy down the stickers on the computers with the CD keys printed right on them. I did this at a BestBuy just to see if i could get away with it and i walked out with two Windows Vista Ultimate Edition codes that i never ended up using. I wasn't at all sneaky either-- i lifted up a laptop and bent down to read the sticker all while employees and customers were there. I turned a desktop computer and practically crawled under a table to see the sticker behind the computer. Nobody said anything to me.

How can this possibly work, you ask? Well, apparently Microsoft has decided to allow as many re-installations as you would like with Windows Vista. So all you have to do is browse around for the computer running the Windows Vista edition you want and steal the code.

According to my friend, all he had to do was download and install the beta version of Windows Vista and use the code he acquired to activate it. He also said that he had to call Microsoft and tell them that he was re-installing Windows. They asked him a few questions and he was all set. Since the Windows Vista Beta's have since expired, you may have to use a more roundabout way to get a copy of Windows Vista to use a stolen CD key on.

If anybody decides to try this let me know how it works out. I don't know why you wouldn't just go ahead and get Ubuntu instead though.