It's possible they've realized that your average person isn't interested in spending $100-200 to upgrade Windows; so they're making the price more palatable. Mo

It's possible they've realized that your average person isn't interested in spending $100-200 to upgrade Windows; so they're making the price more palatable. More upgrades, less people stuck on old Windows, easier for developers to consider targeting newer Windows APIs (who then buy new copies of MSVS). Everyone wins. Also, I'm under the impression MS charges OEMs much less than the retail price for Windows licenses. I doubt they're taking much of a loss, if any.