QUOTE(Toddler @ Aug 10 2009, 07:47 PM)

You may well be correct, but I did see someone (I don't recall who) post that this vulnerability was known about in the original Lite-On, and they did not want to needlessly tip off Microsoft when there was an alternate method for getting at the firmware, but that it had been patched in v8 and left no other alternative. He could have been spouting BS, or I could have imagined it all in a very vivid dream. Take it for whatever it's worth.
Nothing of the sort exists in 7x that we know of.
Its common sense. If they are going to remove serial output they still need a diagnostic way to output the key. They just made it easier (Despite the extra work involved in cracking it) for the end users.