This isn't really as big news as it sounds as MS have often heavily subsidized Windows for OEMs abd such like when they've needed to compete in other markets (Eg when XP was initially losing out to Linux on nettops). And they've shown that they're happy to run flagship consumer products at a loss just to raise adoption (Eg the original Xbox).
So it seems to me to be quite typical for then to drop the cost of a product like this when they're struggling to push said product. And who can blame them, it's a fairly standard practice outside of IT as well, and it's not like MS don't have the funds to do run at a loss for several years either (though I expect they'll easily have this cost offset anyway)
So it seems to me to be quite typical for then to drop the cost of a product like this when they're struggling to push said product. And who can blame them, it's a fairly standard practice outside of IT as well, and it's not like MS don't have the funds to do run at a loss for several years either (though I expect they'll easily have this cost offset anyway)