Like those items were impacting MS in any meaningful way - they've not really been significant since the introduction of online activation. No, it's just an at

Like those items were impacting MS in any meaningful way - they've not really been significant since the introduction of online activation. No, it's just an attempt at finding new revenue streams for something that is in the process of being commoditized. Linux/Android/ChromeOS (yes yes, spare me the pedantry) are free and increasingly good enough to fully replace the traditional OS for most tasks, which puts pressure on everyone else to squash prices to zero. Apple could commoditize the OS because they sell hardware; MS cannot do it without a significant revenue hit. Their pivot to online services is working, but still, when they finally pull the plug on desktop licenses they're going to feel it. So they're in a perennial quest to find new income sources for that division.