zdnet[.]com/article/is-your-windows-license-legal-should-you-even-care/
Ed Bott is apparently an expert when it comes to Windows licenses/licensing:
I've been studying Microsoft licensing agreements for more than two decades. During that time, I've written dozens of articles on the subject and have prepared testimony as an expert witness in criminal and civil cases where Microsoft licensing was at the crux of some serious disagreements.
Where *I think* the article gets interesting is in discussing the minor abuses individual users can probably get away with. He also talks about the ultra cheap licenses available online, like those I bought from CDKey for less than $20:
... Over time, Microsoft has discovered that its activation servers are most effective when they're configured to the most generous settings. If you used a product key six months ago, chances are it will work again, because there's little benefit for Microsoft in making it hard for you to reinstall Windows.Microsoft occasionally audits its larger customers, but if you're a hobbyist or a small business, you're literally too small to bother with. If you can successfully activate your new Windows installation, it doesn't really matter if your license has some sort of technical flaw. The license police are not going to bust down your door and you should concentrate on your business, not on the esoterica of Microsoft licensing.