I never knew

I bought a dell vostro 3460 laptop running windows 8 pro to use for my seminars. Core i3 64 bit 250 gig HD 4 gigs ram. I did not want heavy duty stuff in this since it is basically being used to show windows 8 pro and office 2113 and a few Antispyware programs.
For some reason it was not holding a charge ( I have pro support with it). So dell sent me new battery. That did not seem to do it so today they replaced the motherboard only they put a windows 7 board in instead of 8. They are sending new board to be installed Wednesday, but I did not even know there is a difference. It seems now all activation windows 8 keys for new computers or laptops are built into the motherboards instead of being in the OS and if the incorrect board is put in, within 30 days windows 8 will ask for the activation key and if you do not know it, windows will de activate itself and basically self destruct
Microsoft requires this on new machines ( not upgrades) basically to stop hacking windows 8

Yes. I expect if you call MS on the toll free number they will sort it out.

It is a pain for those who want to clean install and get rid of the crapware as well - proper install media needed

No dell has to sort this out. I have a pro contract which means they are responsible to fix this computer. If they cannot they will exchange it for another one

It just amazes me that Microsoft changed the whole way of doing things in 8. I had a client similar issue on windows 7. They popped the motherboard out put the new one in and had to do nothing else because the activation key was on the OS OEM not on the motherboard

Yes, sorry,what I meant was generally. There will be problems with these embedded keys for others. MS deals with activation - and they are pretty good about it.

In your specific case - it was Dell who put the mobo in - that is bit different.

It was much simpler for the users to have the product key on a sticker and the install media .

When you do a LOT of reinstalling of Windows to a clean state (i.e. OEM crapware removal), motherboard burnt keys are a GOD send. The Windows installer will install the appropriate version of Core or Pro, connect to the internet, wait a few minutes, activation is good to go. No need to hunt down the key on the install DVD box, or finding a worn out OEM Windows sticker, no need to use key snoopers, no need to type in 25 random characters.

This is also good to prevent piracy, as I bet some people that do reinstalls of that with Windows 7 probably end up pirating it if they lost the key or the tag to their PC. That, and thwarting off piracy in general of Windows as the key is on that PC forever until death do you part.

What is bad is that since it is already installed on the HD when you swap out a motherboard windows 8 gets confused and in a month could pop up and ask for another activation key
Microsoft will not help you sort out the problem you have to go through the company where you bought it and since you do not physically have the key because it is built into the motherboard it becomes a never ending circle. Hopefully I will not have this problem. Since this is brand new technology most companies even dell support cannot figure this out because Microsoft who trains them never trained them well enough. I went through hoops just to finally get the right mother board resent to me-duh