On 21/05/2022 21:24, T wrote:
> On 5/21/22 00:22, David Brooks wrote:
>>> 1/10th cost.  I smell a rat!
>>
>> Me too!
>>
>> What harm can it do though - to install and run a 'knock-off' product
>> like this?  He's done it before on a Windows laptop with no ill effect.
>
> Also keep in mind that this could be pirate and
> there is that pesky commandment not to steal.
> Buying stolen goods is just as bad a stealing it
> yourself.

I completely accept what you say, 'T'.

> Or it could be a fire sale for some economic
> calamity  that befell the guy.  But those are
> usually just one off sales, not groups of
> the same item

It appears to be a commercial operation:-

See:- https://turnkeypoint.com/faqs/

On 21 May 2022, T wrote
(in article <t6bq0m$6sn$1@dont-email.me>):

> On 5/21/22 14:57, Wolffan wrote:
> > If, however, the keys are being sold
> > by a legit source which simply doesn’t need all the installs, then the
> > buyers are golden
>
> That would depend on the license agreement. Most of
> them are for you (or your company) only

yep. that’s one reason why I usually keep any excess. Sometimes it can be
possible to get permission to sell excess licenses. It depends on how badly
the local sales guy needs your future business.

On 21 May 2022, T wrote
(in article <t6bq3c$6sn$3@dont-email.me>):

> On 5/21/22 15:22, Wolffan wrote:
> > On 21 May 2022, Joel wrote
> > (in article<ceoi8h96v5n575pe7ufvopadph8te2pmqt@4ax.com>):
> >
> > > Wolffan <akwolffan@zoho.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > > > Let's assume, for a moment, that it's a legit key, being resold by
> > > > > this third party. Can you guarantee that they haven't sold the same
> > > > > key, to someone else? If I deal with Microsoft directly, I *know*
> > > > > that I'm the only one who bought that key.
> > > >
> > > > It appears to be an enterprise key. Typically those keys are authorized
> > > > for
> > > > at least hundreds, more typically thousands, of users, and if the company
> > > > which bought the enterprise key has some left over they can either keep
> > > > them
> > > > around as spares (what I do) or sell the excess. You can get an enterprise
> > > > key with several thousand installs very cheaply indeed. The larger the
> > > > buy,
> > > > the cheaper on a per user basis. Someone may have access to a few
> > > > dozen/hundred user keys from an enterprise buy, and is selling them. So
> > > > long
> > > > as the total installs doesn’t go over the limit for that particular key,
> > > > they should be good.
> > > >
> > > > Now, if the company which bought the enterprise key doesn’t know that
> > > > the
> > > > user installs are being sold, they may try to activate additional users,
> > > > and
> > > > sooner or later will run over the limit... and MS will be upset. And will
> > > > revoke the old key, giving the company a replacement key, while waiting to
> > > > see who calls in to report that their bought and paid for copy of MS
> > > > Application X isn’t working any more. If, however, the keys are being
> > > > sold
> > > > by a legit source which simply doesn’t need all the installs, then the
> > > > buyers are golden. This kind of thing isn’t new, it’s been going on
> > > > since
> > > > MS introduced keys decades ago. I still have theoretically working
> > > > enterprise
> > > > keys for Vista. (I wasn’t the one who bought far too many licenses, I
> > > > just
> > > > inherited them...)
> > >
> > > I'd much prefer to just do it the honest way.
> >
> > It is honest, if the seller has permission to sell the excess. I wouldn’t,
> > I’d keep the excess as spares. A lot of people order a few hundred extra
> > licenses and sell the excess. And make a profit on it. MS doesn’t care.
>
> In that case, the guy had better come clean and show documentation as to
> him being allow to do that.

Either he’s legit, in which case he doesn’t need to prove anything to
John Public (just to MS) or he’s not, in which case MS will get upset and
the keys will be revoked. And, if he’s not legit, it’s trivial to
generate a nice official-looking document. Do you know what kind of
documentation MS requires for those who sell on excess license keys? I do...
and it’s trivial to set up exact copies in Publish (easier in a _real_
desktop publishing app, of course, like Quark or InDesign) and such copies
would be nearly impossible to detect... until MS revokes the license.

Basically, you can either believe he’s legit or not. If he is, you get
cheap MS software. If he isn’t, you get cheap MS software for a while,
until MS revokes the key. Depending on what software it is, MS may never
bother revoking the key; older copies of Office and Windows, for example, are
no longer supported, which means that the license key servers are turned off
at MS. I have some perfectly legit Vista keys, purchased from MS over a
decade ago, by the guy who had my job before I got it. They can’t be used
directly, as the Vista key servers are turned off. I can and have contacted
MS and used a few as Win 10 keys. Or, rather, MS gave me new keys that worked
with Win 10, the Vista servers are off and will stay off. Several older
machines have been upgraded to the extent that the old key breaks; a call to
MS fixes that. (I made it quite clear that I wasn’t paying even one penny
more, and that it was a choice of them updating the key so it worked or my
putting Ubuntu on the old box, either way MS wasn’t getting any more money.
They updated the key. The fact that the company has a _lot_ of licenses for
Windows and Office had something to do with that; we’re a _large_ customer.
John Public at home might have had a bit more trouble, though.)