Someone on HN suggested the theory that Microsoft was only announcing all of the digital restrictions because they were hoping Sony would do the same in this ge

Someone on HN suggested the theory that Microsoft was only announcing all of the digital restrictions because they were hoping Sony would do the same in this generation (since they aren't allowed to collude directly, and it seems a reasonable bet that Sony would up the ante on DRM, as they have historically). But, the theory was that if Sony didn't go that direction, they could always back out before the device goes on sale, since it only matters what the policy ends up being, not what it would have been. If that was indeed Microsofts strategy, you can look at this press release as saying "OK, well Sony didn't go the way we thought, so we're backing off. No harm, no foul". As evidence that they at least had this route as a contingency plan, you have to think this kind of massive about face in the tech would only be possible if they had built in a "TURN_OFF_CRAZY_DRM" flag or something, just in case.