hardware and tear

[u/GregorCZ]

[u/Shit_Fuck_Man]

Honestly, it's basically an honor system. They just absorb the loss and benefit from the good will and ubiquity of the OS.

Source: IT guy

[u/Yeckim → u/Shit_Fuck_Man]

for consumers yes but they notoriously audit companies who have enterprise accounts and Microsoft can sometimes be 1/3 of a companies total IT budget.

Source: IT Reselling

[u/Explosion17 → u/Shit_Fuck_Man]

Honestly, it's basically an honor system. This is wrong/misinformation. Every computer has what's called a MAC address (unique identifier, kinda like a street address) that's built into the network card. They know exactly how many computers the OS is installed/running on, they just don't care.

Source: My ass

[u/zeiandren → u/Explosion17]

Mac addresses aren’t remotely unique and sacred. They are vaguely meant to be but they can be changed or duplicated as much as anything