[Software] Microsoft should just admit defeat and give Windows 10 product keys away for free

[Angel of Death]

When was the last time you had to enter in your Windows 10 product key? This thought struck me earlier this week when we were talking about building and upgrading PCs.  I realised that on a few of my PCs, I've not had to enter in the Windows 10 product key for years, despite numerous upgrades and even fresh installations of Windows 10 itself. Over the years, some of the PCs have been upgraded so many times that one could argue that they are no longer the same machines that Windows 10 was originally installed on.  Sort of like the Ship of Theseus that Vision was talking about at the end of WandaVision.  Now, with previous versions of Windows, every time you reinstalled, you'd need to enter in your product key. These days, Windows 10 seems to run perfectly fine without one - except for a watermark encouraging you to activate Windows 10.  And, if you have activated Windows 10 once before with a product key, that seems to be enough, no matter how many times you do fresh reinstall - which completely wipes the hard drive.So, what's happening? Has Microsoft come up with a way to tie in the Windows 10 product key with your hardware? I would have thought it would also tie into your Microsoft account, but then I reset a PC and signed in with a local account instead - and Windows 10 was happily activated without an issue.  Or, does Microsoft not really care that much? I suspect it's a bit of both