Following Microsoft's release of IE7 without the need for WGA (Windows Genuine Advantage) validation, the industry has been speculating on the reasons behind this decision.
Now, a post on the IE team's blog reveals that Microsoft made this move to maintain the overall ecosystem of the Windows platform. As such, in this update, we have opened access to IE7 for "all" Windows users.
In other words, Microsoft is concerned that "pirated users" may not receive the security protections offered by the new version of IE, so they've decided to let even pirated users use IE7.