Games for Windows Live has been available for quite a while now but has been a dismal failure because they charged you a premium for it (as they do on Xbox 360)

Games for Windows Live has been available for quite a while now but has been a dismal failure because they charged you a premium for it (as they do on Xbox 360), as opposed to other services like Steam which are all free. This seems like an extension (and hopefully a reboot) of this. Xbox Live is quite good and if they just included those features across the spectrum of devices and services ( and didn't charge an annual fee), it would be a good move on Microsoft's part. When a game comes out on both Xbox and PS3, unless I hear that one platform has unique features, I almost always purchase the Xbox version so I can hook up with friends to play multiplayer, or simply compare progress using the Achievement system. Tack on an app store (as they do on the XBox) and it could be a good revenue stream for them.