They already built ads into the operating system, so this doesn't seem like a huge leap to me.

This sort of thing used to be only seen in hostile "toolbars" installed via drive-by installs.

"Users put up with this shit for decades? We're leaving money on the table by not doing it ourselves!"

- Some exec at MS

Sadly smartphones have ruined what is defined as good behavior. What really grinds me is that they advertise themselves as safer than sideloaded apps. Because in general the latter behave much better.

They already revoked his MSDN subscription, and everybody else's.

They also killed off the magazine, the last issue is from November 2019.

Is there a program that replaced MSDN?

I’m waxing nostalgic over the binders of CDs from the subscription over the years.

Yes, the Microsoft Partner Program.