I'll summarize based on what Microsoft charges:

1. more than the competition - gouging! Those bastards!

2. same as the competition - collusion! Those bastards!

3. less than the competition - locking people in! Those bastards!

Hardly any enterprise software companies don’t discount for volume licensing. This is a standard business model, not some sinister Microsoft plot.

In fairness: if management is choosing a Widget vendor, which offers volume licensing, then we're talking about a standard business model in many industries.

If management is choosing a Document vendor, one of which is offering cheaper OS licensing in order to lock the purchaser into a treadmill of neverending consultant fees and half-baked integration work where the vendor will constantly push unrelated services and licensing to fix their own products because of walled gardens obscured by lacking technical and business competence on the part of the purchaser, we're talking MS. It's a highly successful strategy, but it undermines their customers and has left a sour taste in many a mouth.

I don't know if Embrace, Extend, Extinguish counts as a "sinister plot"... I can't say I'm the most competent here to speak to what lies in the heart of "marketing" or "sales" people, much less at a giant like MS... I can say that the sellers I know would gleefully participate in sinister plots if it meant a better office and parking space.