It is in Microsoft's interest to allow piracy because all of those people become familiar with (and dependent on) Windows. That means more IT professionals with Windows experience, more documents circulating around in Microsoft formats, better KPIs for whatever ad contracts they have with Candy Crush and other bundled software. It grants them broad influence over the software industry as a whole through things like DirectX, .NET, Visual Studio, and Azure. It gives them a foot in the door to any market niche they desire (like www browsers).
If it is free, you are the product. But Microsoft is a rather different business than Facebook. They are selling their userbase mostly to various commercial software firms, hardware manufacturers, and commercial enterprises.
It is in Microsoft's interest to allow piracy because all of those people become familiar with (and dependent on) Windows. That means more IT professionals with Windows experience, more documents circulating around in Microsoft formats, better KPIs for whatever ad contracts they have with Candy Crush and other bundled software. It grants them broad influence over the software industry as a whole through things like DirectX, .NET, Visual Studio, and Azure. It gives them a foot in the door to any market niche they desire (like www browsers).
If it is free, you are the product. But Microsoft is a rather different business than Facebook. They are selling their userbase mostly to various commercial software firms, hardware manufacturers, and commercial enterprises.