[ceocoder]

That is impressive, just impressive. Brought back some fond memories of installing Windows XP over and over again for family and friends with fckgw rhqq2 yxrkt 8tg6w and playing minesweeper before handing it off to them.

Great job!

[krrrh]

“fckgw rhqq2 yxrkt 8tg6w. There’s a name I’ve not heard in a long, long time.”

[ceocoder]

this should be like a secret handshake or even better our version of windmill high-five from Top Gun. Still can't believe that I can enter that S/N without having to even think about it.

[Aeolun]

Is there something magic about that code?

[ceocoder]

Yes - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volume_licensing#Leaked_keys

tl;dr I grew up in India where the Indian Rupee was quite weak compared to the USD. Most people I knew couldn't really afford a legitimate copy of Windows XP - 1 USD was about 48.61 INR in 2002, and average wage was about 120 INR/day[0]. At that price a copy of Windows XP (priced at around $300/$400 ~ INR 14,000) was prohibitively expensive for pretty much everyone I knew. Because of that we ended up using leaked keys to setup new PCs, I did that enough times for my family, friends, and classmates that now I can type that key up as if I'm typing "hello world" :)

[0] https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---asia/---ro-bangk...

[panda88888]

It’s the most popular Windows 98 cd key back in the old days.