>>>Seems to me that Microsoft is more of a "show me the money" company than a "make developers happy and engender loyalty" type company.
>>>
>>
>>MS spent two years on Sedna, and they're giving it away. What category does that fit in?
>
>I dunno. How much time and how many people work on Internet Explorer?... Or the free (or very cheap) versions of their SQL Server and .NET products? Again, free is good (well, let's see it first) but it isn't something to crow about.
>It also might have been hard to sell something that was for a 'dead' product.

Good points, and eventually everything boils down to money, but I tend to think at least part of that decision falls in the "make developers happy and engender loyalty" category.