They can charge a recurring and increasing subscription fee for on-line accounts and services. And of course data. Before they can do that, they first have to

They can charge a recurring and increasing subscription fee for on-line accounts and services. And of course data. Before they can do that, they first have to get everyone dependant on the on-line account and services, because most would not voluntarily knowingly agree to be charged a subscription just to use their own computer, not intentionally using any external services. So step 1 is do not charge for the basic account combined with force everyone to use it. Most will go along with this because it's free this exact minute and most people follow strictly the path of least immediate resistance. You can make most people do anything you want by just making anything else 0.0001% more difficult. This is not cynical, this is studied. In the olde dayes, if you wanted to sell a subscription service, you created a service and then convinced people to become paying customers. MS is tricking everyone into becoming customers first, and then when the deed is done, inform them they are now paying customers. And of course also data.