If you were a torrent fiend during the height of the P2P sharing era, then there’s a good chance you’ve probably downloaded your fair share of operating systems. Oftentimes, new computer or laptop purchases come pre-packaged with a full-featured OS, negating the need for most folks to buy them. And with some companies, like Apple, offering free OS upgrades for a certain period with the purchase of a new computer, the days of getting a disc or burning a file you’ve downloaded from the web to upgrade your OS yourself are done for some people.
However, that doesn’t mean some folks aren’t still in need of a passkey or disc for their operating system of choice. Which became a topic of discussion in the comments section of a viral clip posted by Best Buy employee and TikToker @kadekit that’s accrued over 73,000 likes on the popular social media platform.
@kadeki Meet me around back🤫 #pc #pcgaming #pcgamer #windows11 #installwindows11 #computers ♬ original sound – Liv4tmr
In it, he reenacts a customer asking for a copy of a Windows operating system while lip-syncing a scene from the 2022 Rescue Rangers film where Chip and Dale ask a shady cheese dealer, in code terms, if they can get their hands on some contraband.
“Hey do you have any Windows for download?” the customer, whose role is played by @kadeki asks.
The Best Buy employee, also played by @kadeki, replies by saying, “Do I have windows?” before he shows different versions of Microsoft’s operating system to the customer, including Windows 11 and Windows 10.
The shopper then leans in and asks: “Do you have any free windows download?” while leaning in suspiciously. The employee then slowly drops one of the copies of Windows they’re holding in their hand, taken aback by the question: “You cops?”
Around the world, throngs of people are using pirated versions of Windows. In India for instance, a purported 91% of Windows installs were purportedly not genuinely purchased. Computerworld also writes that “most PCs [are] running pirated Windows in China.”
One commenter who saw @kadeki’s post said that they would never buy a copy of Windows themselves. “I’m not paying for windows,” they wrote.
Another said that they employed a different technique to ensure their copies of Windows would pass authentication. “Gotta use the Microsoft provided activation scripts,” they said. But there was someone else who said they found another, less involved workaround. “It’s free already as long as you don’t care to activate it,” they said.
Statista writes that Windows still holds a dominant market share over the desktop space at 74% of all desktops rocking the operating system.
According to Microsoft’s website, Windows 11 is $139. Upgrading from Windows 10 to Windows 11 is reportedly free. Users can download the software for free as well, which purportedly doesn’t require paid activation for up to one year of use.
Guiding Tech says that using non-activated versions of Windows isn’t illegal, but if one’s version isn’t activated, then certain features will not be available to users, like remote desktop or automatic updates.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Best Buy and Microsoft via email as well as to @kadeki via TikTok comment for further information.
