My Win 7 key is blocked.

[bruceb]

Correct. Digital River is an Authorized Microsoft Reseller, especially for student software.

 

[code65536]

TechNet is technically for evaluation only.

MSDN *can* be used for "production" (if that's development and testing) (and if you get the MSDN level that includes Office, you do get one unrestricted Office license that you can use for production for whatever purpose), which is why MSDN is more expensive (MSDN's lowest level is more expensive than TN while offering fewer software).

The problem here is that TN and MSDN are per-user only. You can't get a single MSDN sub and use it for a 5-person dev team: each member of the team needs his/her own MSDN sub. So selling a MSDN key violates the all-keys-must-be-used-by-the-same-person rule.

So if MSFT finds a TN or MSDN key being sold on eBay, it'll kill the sub associated with that key and block all the keys that were generated with that sub. This is why you should NEVER buy a key from eBay without a COA, because the COA is the only guarantee that the key was not generated by a TN/MSDN sub that MSFT will kill once it discovers that it had been abused.

 

[RebateMonger]

You say to never buy just a key. But that is what digital river was selling to students, correct? It was a key and a link to download an iso. Just like I bought a key and a download link from an ebay seller. Although mine was a scam. Did digital river provide some kind of digital CoA?

I think Microsoft is making a mistake selling downloaded Windows through Domains that aren't clearly marked as *.Microsoft.com. It's creating the impression that buying Windows from non-Microosft sites via download/Key-only is OK, when, in reality, it's extremely risky.

Right now, the only non-counterfeit digital downloads that I know of come from either Microsoft sites or Microsoft contract sites (like DigitalRiver).

 

[CU]

Well the download was from http://msft-dnl.digitalrivercontent.net which may or may not be the real digital river site. I don't know. But they key was an MSDN key. So, make sure you only deal with digital river directly.

 

[RebateMonger]

Well the download was from http://msft-dnl.digitalrivercontent.net which may or may not be the real digital river site. I don't know. But they key was an MSDN key. So, make sure you only deal with digital river directly.

The scammer is taking advantage of a Microsoft-contractor-owned web site that has an open link to Win7 OS downloads. Having this open link is making it easy on scammers.

I contacted MS' Anti-Piracy organization several months ago, asking if Microsoft intended for this link to be wide-open. MS asked me to talk to one of their anti-piracy folks and I gave him details. Unfortunately, this person didn't completely understand the situation. He said that while DigitalRiver.com belonged to a Microsoft contractor, DigitalRiverContent did not. He was wrong. DigitalRiverContent.com is owned by Digital River. Digital River provides digital download services for Microsoft, Computer Associates, and, I'm sure, other software makers.

So, in the end, I never did determine if MS intended for those downloads to be wide open to the public.

 

[stash]

You should never buy just a 'key', however; buying a CoA / Certificate of Authenticity is fine and includes just a key and the cert. I buy this way all the time for work since without media we save a bit on each seat.

Selling COAs is not legal at all and therefore buying them is a horrible idea. Selling COAs is a violation of the 2003 Anti-Counterfeiting Act.

http://www.microsoft.com/howtotell/content.aspx?displaylang=en-gb&pg=coa

 

[RebateMonger]

This is why you should NEVER buy a key from eBay without a COA, because the COA is the only guarantee that the key was not generated by a TN/MSDN sub that MSFT will kill once it discovers that it had been abused.

A COA sticker only comes with Microsoft's OEM software. Resale of MS' OEM software can only be done in two ways:

1) The disk, Key, and COA sticker are in an original UNOPENED Microsoft envelope.
2) The disk, Key, and COA sticker come with a computer, with the software pre-installed and the COA sticker attached to the computer case.

Resale of an opened Microsoft OEM disk/Key/COA package not installed on a computer is a violation of MS' licensing terms.

 

[JackMDS]

DigitalRiverContent.com is owned by Digital River. Digital River provides digital download services for Microsoft, Computer Associates, and, I'm sure, other software makers.
.

I remember this indecent and at the time I did some follow up too.

As I understood all parties in this matter did not communicated well and did some mistakes.

They probably decided to let it go, or resolved it between themselves.

However what ever happened there and some other favorite links used by people has No bearing on the legal stuff concerning unlawful use of the material.

Big department stores many times a day see small shoplifting indecent on their Video circuits, and leave it alone.

That does not make shoplifting legal. 😱


😎