The programmer and youtuber South African TroubleChute wanted to use Windows the way it was supposed to be used: by paying for a license. So after installing it and seeing that the activation key provided by Microsoft did not work, he contacted the company’s official technical support. And what happened was not normal at all.
Apparently the technician helping TroubleChute was unable to resolve the error with the activation key. Something we can’t blame, of course, but after making the problem worse, someone using a method… let’s say unofficial to activate Windows 10 Pro.
Yes, Microsoft used a “crack” to break its own license
I can not believe it.
My official Microsoft Store Windows 10 Pro key was not activating. Support couldn’t help me yesterday.Today he was brought up. Official Microsoft Support (not a scam) connected with Quick Assist and ran a command to activate Windows.
BRO THIS IS A CRACK
PERSON pic.twitter.com/0vcRGu9PDE— TCNO/TroubleChute (@TCNOco) March 11, 2023
TroubleChute shows what happened with some photos on Twitter: Microsoft staff resorted to a crack be able to activate Windows. That is to say, after paying for a legal license, Microsoft ended up doing what should not be done: activat ing Windows 10 with a ‘crack’ and with which anyone can do it without pay.
The expert also looked for someone to corroborate what happened, with experts from Massgrave’s Discord confirming that the method was “neither official nor legal”:
I went to https://t.co/pYW02Y5CIL and joined Discord via the link on the page. Asked if it was a crack. The response from Discord staff was:
“It’s neither official nor legal.” pic.twitter.com/EDIUsbmQLB
— TCNO/TroubleChute (@TCNOco) March 11, 2023
The incident came to Microsoft’s attention after being reflected in various online media, and the company released a statement about it:
We strive to provide best in class support to our customers. The technique you describe would be against our policy. We are investigating this fact and will take appropriate steps to ensure that proper procedures are followed with respect to customer support for our products and services.
macOS is simple: free for all
Good for those in Redmond to acknowledge that something was done wrong (I’m not predicting a bright future for the manager), although it’s inevitable to put all of this in contrast to the solution that Apple has decided to apply to his macOS twelve years ago: make it free for everyone.
It was the solution he chose in 2011, after dropping the price of Mac OS X Lion and seeing that it didn’t make sense to continue to maintain a licensing structure. The company saw more value in not charging users for their operating systems, giving them the freedom to upgrade for free and without limits. The profit margin was more on buying the Macnot your system or core applications.
You can download all versions of macOS from High Sierra to Ventura from this official repository, but remember that it’s best to update from the System Settings itself.
To date, only professional applications are those that continue to cost the user money. Logic Pro, Final Cut Pro X… very niche and elaborate software with which it always makes sense to get paid. My suspicion: the price of such software may change over time (maybe there is even a subscription model), but the price in these cases will never drop to zero.
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