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I'm posting merely as to be informational. I'm not advocating piracy whatsoever, but it appears that the RTM build 2180 (along with the last beta before it, 2179) now accepts keys that were previously banned. It was rumored months ago that Microsoft would allow everyone to install SP2, as a kind of concession to those who pirated the software, in exchange for making the internet more secure. After all, the theory was that pirated versions of XP would continue shooting off spam and worms, etc. But then the rumor was denied by Microsoft, and all the betas of SP2 blocked pirated PIDs.
But now, it appears that Microsoft changed their mind, and this article, dated for August 5th, 2004, confirms it:
News source: Silicon Valley
Microsoft senior product manager Matt Pilla said virtually all Windows XP users will be able to download Service Pack 2, regardless of whether they have a legal or pirated copy of the operating system. Research firm IDC estimates that about 260 million copies have been sold.
I also checked around on other computer forums. Many users have reported that this is, indeed, true. Keys that were formerly banned from using Windows Update v5 are now, indeed, able to run it and download updates from it.