Definitely a touch of the IBM's here...
Synopsis: "We're completely untouchable, so we can hike the prices as we please"
Market response:
- Computer/Pad manufacturers move more to ARM + OSX or Linux (as they are)
- Domestic users discover (finally - it's taken enough time!) that they don't actually need MS Office as 99%of what they do is via email/web and a phone/pad/existing PC is fine for that.
- Corporate users already moving to cloud/web based delivery of systems find even less reasons to give their users anything other that Linux + browser or OSX + browser (for the executives!)
- Cloud suppliers find they can scale these apps better with Linux or their own custom OS (off-topic - sad for me, as I really like .NET and MS Design Tools - much better than open source software - sorry, it just is - C# is fab)
At this point I would assume MS will have a little word in Intel's ear about encouraging their user base to ditch Windows + Office and suggest they read up on the 'Gerald Ratner moment' - i.e. don't tell the world you're screwing them over - they may already know it, but the sure as hell don't like you to rub their nose in it!