Why is still illegal to host Windows XP Home for download

They are available for download, but you have to have a Technet or an MSDN subscription to get to them.

And no, MS is not still selling XP.

Bill2 said:

mckillwashere said:

Part of the reason it is illegal is the fact there is a license on the media. You are paying the the License key for activating the operating system, as well as the Physical Media. The same thing is true with game. you pay for the media, the game, and if applicable the anti-piracy software used with the game.

Not exactly, there are digital downloads. E.g., my bro downloaded his digitalriver iso, then shelled out the extra $13 for the disk. Thing is the iso is a copyrighted work of MS and MS doesnt offer its software via torrents or random direct download sites.

And if there was a license associated with the media, backing it up would also be akin to piracy lol...But in principle as long as one activates with ones own key, theres no difference between using copies of ones own disks or downloaded/borrowed ones (malware questions aside).

That was how I got the copy of the Win7 Iso I used to install on my current system...tho I never saw the option to getting the disk for $13

I backup all my disks and use the backups. :P it's also nice when your former friend steals your copy of Mac OSX Snow Leopard when you tell him to go buy his own and you still have the master copy. ( Life experience here.)
oh, I make copy's of all my software because um....when I sell things like ilife and leopard and snow leopard disks for Mac that don't have product keys I can still use them....