On 9/20/2026 4:30 AM, Paul wrote:

On Sat, 9/19/2026 2:24 PM, MummyChunk wrote:

??Putin is using a pirated version of Windows

The President of Russia voted in the election online, and internet users noticed that Windows was not activated on his computer.

Thank you for your attention.

The payment systems between Russia and the West
are largely disconnected. For example, if I wanted
to pay for a Kaspersky subscription, that either
isn't possible, or if there is a new payment processor,
the payment processor could be a "dodgy untrustworthy"
operation you would not want to give a CC number to.
One of the payment processors here, I think they
were shut down.

And the software is not officially pirated, as the
Windows in question has "infinite grace", and a
user can rightfully explain they have the key in
hand and just haven't entered it yet. If the grace
period had been set to a finite value, we could
laugh a bit more at this.

It would be pirated software, if for example, the
watermark on the screen had been removed, yet an official
key had not been entered. Such a situation might arise
for one of the older OSes which had "30 day grace". Whereas
W10 and W11 have "infinite grace" and the OS does not
stop working just because a key has not been entered.

A pirated software, attempts to give the appearance of
normality (no watermark). Putins screen is then,
"sitting in the grace period, which is... forever".
You can use a Windows OS during the grace period,
without a key.

Not all Windows OS version installers, had a "skip" button
to avoid entering a key early in the installation process.
W10 and W11 have a "skip" button so you can enter your
key at some later date, before the grace period expires.
Since the grace period is infinite, you could theoretically
use it for at least ten years without a problem. The only
other limitation on a Windows, might be the signing on
any crypto materials, which could expire sooner than you
might think. As a test of this, Microsoft had one Insider
Edition release, where the signing on "winload.exe" was
short on purpose. Just so they could "expire" the OS and
not allow it to be used forever (license key or not). I
considered that to be a test, as not all Insider Editions
are time bombed like that. I've also had signing failures
on DVDs, but that again might have been a test, rather
than a consistent policy from one media to another.
If you're using Secure Boot, your (older) DVD might not
work.

Licensing is very complicated in Windows and
it's hard to make good jokes of it.

Excellent response, yes, this would tend to mean it's merely running
without activation but not deliberate piracy, and why not, MS doesn't
care, they know some people will pay to have the full features, others
may not but they'll still keep Windows relevant vs. other platforms. I
have a retail OS license and a 365 account, but my position relative to
the company is one of a typical consumer more so than some people's.

--
Joel W. Crump

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.19
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)