Perhaps I was misguided by the insinuation that Microsoft is behind some imperative language conspiracy. In any case, 99% of the code that runs this world was written in an imperative language and most universities (I believe MIT is an exception with Scheme?) will teach an imperative language before any other. It may not be the easiest (I'm biased, my mind mapped instantly) or best to start with, but it certainly is the one most commonly started with and most commonly used.

I'm pretty sure Microsoft's motivations are simply to make the best development environment they can because at the end of the day that's what developers will use meaning more server licence purchases. This is evidenced by the relative freedom their dev techs get and by the insane amount of programming genius they have hired in this area.