I'm not sure what you mean by "it's worked so far"; Microsoft has provided C++ compilers freely for around 7+ years now. They have chosen to not do so any long

I'm not sure what you mean by "it's worked so far"; Microsoft has provided C++ compilers freely for around 7+ years now. They have chosen to not do so any longer. Instead, they give you only the tools needed to write Metro applications, which, just coincidentally require you to sell them through their store and can't be side-loaded onto normal systems, and they get a 30% cut. As for "what it actually costs to support a developer" -- you're forgetting about the open source developers and other independents. Unless you're talking about Microsoft's costs, in which case, I could care less. So much for "developers, developers, developers!"