You toss some of the usual terms around, but you seem to have
them a bit twisted.
1) It *is* possible for install media to be booby-trapped. I've
seen this precisely once. They can arrange "winload.exe" to have
a signing certificate that expires. During the boot process, booting
will stop if this signing is not valid. Such mechanisms are intended
to stop the hacking of media, at least for some simple changes.
I think that might have been one Windows Insider version, valid
for about a week or so. The signing was only valid for several
months perhaps.
No other media I've used, suffers from such a setting.
2) When you install the OS, there is a thing called the "grace
period". The OS is not dependent on the key at that time.
This mechanism exists so IT personnel can build an image,
do SYSPERP or sealing or the like.
The grace period can be rearmed. On the 29th day or 59th day
slmgr.vbs -rearm
rundll32.exe syssetup,SetupOobeBnk # WinXP
that resets the grace period.
On some OS, this can be repeated up to four times, for
150 days of grace period usage (possibly Enterprise).
Someone in the groups once claimed to be able to do this
forever - YMMV.
3) The OS response to the grace period varies.
Windows 10 installs outside grace period, continue to run.
Windows 7 Enterprise (I have a VM) continues to run outside
the grace period. It will run for around 30 minutes, before
it spontaneously reboots (dirty shutdown and all). This is,
again, a courtesy to IT staff, allowing them to retrieve files
or do tiny things, on an out-of-grace image. I have a compiler
seated in that OS, and I can "squeak in a compile" in the 30 minutes :-)
I keep MinGW in there.
On some of the older OSes, if you move the hard drive,
the OS basically "Seizes up" or "freezes". That's the worst.
Of course, you could get 30 days grace by just installing
that OS over again. Not a big deal.
4) Some of the install media is "gated by keys". It won't
allow you to install, without a key. There are three possibilities.
a) doesn't care about key (Win10) - you can load a key later
b) will accept an available install-only key (Win8)
c) absolutely needs a key (WinXP SP3 maybe? varied
between WinXP Service Pack versions, four different discs)
5) Ability to move a licensed product is clearly defined in
the terms of use. A "System Builder OEM" stays with the
original hardware it is installed on. This can be remedied
with a phone calls, if you haven't been abusing the license
key. A person who installed once, had a hardware failure two
years later, could request that their install work on a new
replacement motherboard which isn't actually the same. The
automated telephone challenge might be all that's needed.
There are "Retail" SKUs that allow moving the OS, but
the license had better not be "visible" on the old machine,
or it could be cut off. The "Retail" SKU, because of this
flexibility, the market will bear a higher price for this
(if not, they'd never sell any).
6) There are tools for activating stuff anyway, like
"DAZ's loader". And there are enough abuses of volume
licensing by mom and pop computer stores, to make even
your "installed by mom and pop" OS, not be legitimate.
That's why mom or pop "only charged $50 for the job".
You can really have, just about anything you want,
at any price you're willing to pay. Right now, you
could use the Heidoc downloader to generate a URL for
Win7 ISO media. Download the media. Then use DAZ's loader
to make it "legit". And be off and running with no grace
period. And it costs you... nothing. Just a little hair loss.
And I don't think Gates had too much of a hand in the
software itself. He wasn't a coding machine or anything.
And GUI/UI concepts are reused from all sorts of OSes,
when making newer OSes. Lots of ideas were "borrowed"
from Xerox PARC, once upon a time.
Paul