Also, is there no oversight? Does nobody supervise the product managers?

Maybe it should be Nadella's job to keep on top of stuff like this.

umm, it's not impossible that the data shows that it's "working great"

Not even conscience but foresight to see political or even regulatory issues with something that, if implemented the wrong way, could amount to predatory lending.

That is a solved problem. There's nothing new here, 'Buy now, pay later' stuff has existed for ages.

Sure, and some of it in the form of predatory lending financial instruments, some of which are regulated. And a company on the scale of MS entering into any new market will draw a lot of scrutiny. One in the business of lending money, even just through a tightly-integrated partnership, is going to draw even more. That's a lot to gamble on a browser initiative before Edge has the market share to throw its weight around.

I'm sure MS would love-- and is hoping-- to collect rents on purchases users might make anywhere, but this seems a very clumsy attempts. Possibly driven, as others have noted, by short-term incentives by product managers rather than anything more strategic.

I don't understand the business model, either. If people aren't paying interest, how are they making money?