I would do that, but I don't want to pay Microsoft twice: once for the Windows that came installed on the laptop and once again for another copy of Windows that's actually installable.
I miss the days when computers came with OS installation disks. it's like you actually owned the software.
That's a fair point, but there's nothing stopping you from wiping the OS and installing Linux, either. I'm limited to Windows for work reasons, otherwise I'd have gone that route myself.
I'm a huge Linux fan, and have happily used it for quite a long time. Sadly, however, not all the programs I need to use are available for Linux. Tax programs, for example. There are various other niches as well, where Linux hasn't really caught up yet.
I've used TaxACT [1] since ~2005 with great results. I'll admit that there's still usually one or two other niche programs that don't work on linux, though.
I miss the days when computers came with OS installation disks. it's like you actually owned the software.