Cat-and-mouse game begins: Microsoft blacklists leaked Windows 7 key

The Lenovo OEM key that leaked earlier this week and allowed Windows 7 Ultimate to be cracked is being blacklisted, according to a blog post last night from Alex Kochis, Director of Genuine Windows at Microsoft.

Kochis says, "Yesterday we were alerted to reports of a leak of a special product key issued to an OEM partner of ours. The key is for use with Windows 7 Ultimate RTM product that is meant to be pre-installed by the OEM on new PCs to be shipped later this year. As such, the use of this key requires having a PC from the manufacturer it was issued to. We've worked with that manufacturer so that customers who purchase genuine copies of Windows 7 from this manufacturer will experience no issues validating their copy of Windows 7. At the same time we will seek to alert customers who are using the leaked key that they are running a non-genuine copy of Windows. It's important to note that no PCs will be sold that will use this key."

Despite Microsoft's apparent delight that users were so eager to crack the new version of Windows, it is only logical that the company would disable the key.

However, there are a multitude of other OEM keys which can be used to crack Windows 7 in the very same way, so this "crack and blacklist" situation will likely repeat itself several more times as those keys find their way out.