Recommended Posts

Anyone inquiring or posting about how to get the illegally obtained RTM (final version of) Windows 7 will be moderated.

You may have your posting abilities removed, remember.. this is the final gold version that will ship in the shops, it is no longer considered beta by Neowin or Microsoft.

Link to comment
https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/800976-there-will-be-trouble-ahead/
Share on other sites

Does technet/msdn count? :p

I'd say it would, considering getting a MSDN/Technet account with the intent of getting Win7 RTM (for personal, extended use) is illegal, end off. Unless your a developer or tester you have no business getting those accounts, I know people don't care :p but in the eyes of the law it's still illegal (far as I understand anyway).

I'd say it would, considering getting a MSDN/Technet account with the intent of getting Win7 RTM (for personal, extended use) is illegal, end off. Unless your a developer or tester you have no business getting those accounts, I know people don't care :p but in the eyes of the law it's still illegal (far as I understand anyway).

Illegal and against ToU/EULA are completely different. I wish people would stop throwing 'illegal' around when the law of the state/country has nothing to do with it.

I'd say it would, considering getting a MSDN/Technet account with the intent of getting Win7 RTM (for personal, extended use) is illegal, end off. Unless your a developer or tester you have no business getting those accounts, I know people don't care :p but in the eyes of the law it's still illegal (far as I understand anyway).

It is not "illegal" to get a TechNet or MSDN subscription if you're not a "developer or tester"; they're sold at retail and MS doesn't give a whit who buys them (assuming you don't live, say, in North Korea).

As to the "legailty" of using Win7 licenses obtained on TechNet or MSDN, I found this excerpt of a blog posting on the Windows 7 Team Blog to be really interesting:

Beta testers will not automatically receive a free copy of Windows 7. Many beta testers are already subscribers to TechNet; those of you who fit that description will be able to download Windows 7 RTM shortly after RTM happens for free as part of your subscription.

(emphasis mine)

This carries the implication--for me, anyway--that they're perfectly aware of how subscribers use their licenses.

If I post a link to google searching for pandas, and they click it, and replace pandas with the build string, do I get in trouble?

I will personally throw the banhammer at you for that one.

Pandas?! What a crazy idea!

:p

It is not "illegal" to get a TechNet or MSDN subscription if you're not a "developer or tester"; they're sold at retail and MS doesn't give a whit who buys them (assuming you don't live, say, in North Korea).

As to the "legailty" of using Win7 licenses obtained on TechNet or MSDN, I found this excerpt of a blog posting on the Windows 7 Team Blog to be really interesting:

(emphasis mine)

This carries the implication--for me, anyway--that they're perfectly aware of how subscribers use their licenses.

hmm that is REALLY interesting.

The EULA for TechNet definitely prohibits this, but if official MS sources say otherwise, I might go ahead and grab a TechNet license instead of driving down to Redmond...

Anyone know how to get this confirmed?

hmm that is REALLY interesting.

The EULA for TechNet definitely prohibits this, but if official MS sources say otherwise, I might go ahead and grab a TechNet license instead of driving down to Redmond...

Anyone know how to get this confirmed?

When I spoke with Microsoft Licensing a few months ago, I asked them "if TechNet subscriptions could be used for personal use on a home desktop or notebook, as long as you were not running a business with the software" in regards to my own TechNet subscription and was told "no, you can not use TechNet subscriptions for personal use. They are for evaluation purposes only", which is what the EULA states.

However, that being said, the Windows Team Blog isn't the only source who have implied that TechNet subscriptions can be used at home. The Canadian IT Pro Connection blog, located at http://blogs.technet.com/canitpro/, states:

Full-version software for evaluation - without time limits ? including Microsoft operating systems, servers, and Office System software. This is software that is ? licensed for evaluation purposes only?not for use in production environments? which basically means you can use it in your home, your test lab, you learning environment etc?

It is definitely a bit of a grey area, so I'd recommend using your own discretion (eg. be smart about it, don't run a business with TechNet software, etc).

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Posts

    • Quantum Error Correction Validated in Nature: Microsoft and Quantinuum Log 800-Fold Improvement Two years after the original press-release announcement, independently peer-reviewed results published in Nature on June 10, 2026, have confirmed that Microsoft and Quantinuum achieved an 800-fold reduction in quantum error rates on real trapped-ion hardware — the largest gap between physical and logical error rates ever independently validated.    What Quantum Error Correction Actually Does — and Why Breaking Even Is Hard https://www.techtimes.com/articles/318329/20260613/quantum-error-correction-validated-nature-microsoft-quantinuum-log-800-fold-improvement.htm   Quantum Computing Wiring Bottleneck Cracked by HKU Silicon Carbide Chip at Qubit Temperature Engineers at the University of Hong Kong have built the first cryogenic control chip that operates at the same temperature as superconducting qubits — 10 millikelvin, or just one-hundredth of a degree above absolute zero — without generating the heat that has forced every competing approach to park its electronics hundreds of meters of cable away. https://www.techtimes.com/articles/318325/20260613/quantum-computing-wiring-bottleneck-cracked-hku-silicon-carbide-chip-qubit-temperature.htm  
    • RevPDF 4.5.0 by Razvan Serea RevPDF is a free, fully offline PDF editor for Windows, macOS, and Linux that lets you edit text and images directly inside PDF files — no internet connection, no account, and no cloud uploads required. Unlike bloated alternatives that demand subscriptions and constant connectivity, RevPDF fits in under 60MB on desktop while delivering a complete editing toolkit: annotate, redact, sign, compress, split, merge, convert, and reorganize pages, all processed locally on your device. Smart font matching ensures edited text blends seamlessly with the original, and multi-language support includes RTL scripts such as Arabic and Hebrew. Where most PDF editors force you to choose between features and simplicity, RevPDF manages both. You can build interactive forms from scratch with text fields, checkboxes, and dropdowns, permanently redact sensitive data before sharing, draw freehand on contracts and diagrams, and add custom watermarks — all without a single file leaving your machine. Edit Text and Images Directly Inside PDFs RevPDF supports true inline PDF editing — not just annotation layers on top of a document, but actual modification of existing text and images within the file. A smart font-matching engine identifies the font used in the original document and applies it automatically when you make edits, so changes blend naturally with the surrounding content. You can reposition elements, resize images, and update text across single pages or entire documents. RevPDF 4.5.0 release notes: This is one of the biggest updates to RevPDF yet. A lot of things people have been asking for are finally here. New Features Auto Redaction Permanently redact sensitive text and areas from your PDFs before sharing. Clean, irreversible, and fully offline. Comments, Links & Bookmarks Add comments for review, insert clickable links, and create bookmarks to jump around long documents without scrolling forever. Find & Replace Search across the whole document and replace text in one go. Long overdue. Split Pages Vertically or Horizontally Split any page down the middle, vertically or horizontally. Perfect for scanned books or double-page spreads. New Drawing Tools More tools for freehand drawing and markup, better for annotations, sketches, and detailed notes. Continuous Scrolling in Editor The editor now scrolls continuously through pages instead of jumping between them. Working through long documents is a lot smoother now. PDF Metadata Editor View and edit the metadata stored inside your PDFs, including title, author, subject, and keywords. Better Font Matching Text edits now blend in more naturally by doing a better job of matching the original font. Tabbed PDF Viewer Open multiple PDFs at once in tabs and switch between them without going back to the home screen. Add Links Insert hyperlinks anywhere in your PDF, to external URLs or to other pages within the document. Share & Print Shortcuts Share or print directly from the editing screen, home screen, and viewer. No extra steps. Minor Updates Paste images directly from clipboard into your PDF New image editing tools for more control over images inside documents Bug Fixes Fixed file saving issues on Windows and Linux Everything still works fully offline. No login, no cloud, no account. Your files stay on your device. Download: RevPDF 4.5.0 | 58.0 MB (Open Source) Links: RevPDF Home Page | Github | Screenshots 1 | 2 Get alerted to all of our Software updates on Twitter at @NeowinSoftware
    • Interesting. I'm not using a VPN with my phone. I tried though my home internet (Rogers) and my cellular internet (Telus) and both trigger the dialog above.
    • Three days after Anthropic launched Claude Fable 5 as the most capable AI model it had ever released to the public, the United States government ordered it switched off — and now the company is refunding customers who paid to use a product that vanished almost overnight https://www.techtimes.com/articles/318342/20260613/us-government-pulls-anthropics-fable-5-offline-now-come-refunds-vanished-ai.htm  
    • Microsoft fired the team and replaced them with AI and this is what you get.
  • Recent Achievements

    • Week One Done
      agatameier earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • One Month Later
      agatameier earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • Week One Done
      ssd21345 earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • Contributor
      MarkHughes4096 went up a rank
      Contributor
    • Dedicated
      jordanspringer earned a badge
      Dedicated
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      507
    2. 2
      +Edouard
      175
    3. 3
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      139
    4. 4
      ATLien_0
      90
    5. 5
      Steven P.
      76
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!