On 12/15/20 1:24 PM, R C wrote: > What I meant was that MS basically, for the longest while, had their > OS pre-installed on computers sold, so it "felt" free to the buyer, it > came with the machine. Universities and colleges did receive bulk > licenses and .NET pretty much for free in their 'Developer Programs' > and also have students keep using it. That "faillure to implement" > obviously was a marketing move indeed, as was students "allowing" to > keep using it on their laptops after graduation. This is way off-topic, but there are two aspects of home users using unlicensed copies of Windows: 1.) Users who bought a machine with Windows Home Edition on it who wanted either Professional or Ultimate; 2.) The enthusiasts who were building their own machines from parts. That group is small, but they also tend to be very vocal; IT professionals often fall into this group, and MS wanted to keep them happy for all the reasons previously posted. But the Red Hat-based ecosystem version of that second group is on-topic, as the same sort of enthusiast exists here and has been very vocal about this change.