Microsoft allowed piracy to gain a competitive advantage. To allow their software to be entrenched. Not so much these days because lots pirated softwave is now a VECTOR for malware.
My Journey with Microsoft started with Dos3.3 I think. Was a big win 3.1 and Word 2 user ... etc right up to Win 11 now. So I have seen a lot of MS dodgyness over the years.
Im not sure if the next part of my writing is allowed ... but here goes ... This google search link explains this in a much more fluet situation than I can. Specifically the AI over view https://www.google.com/search?q=Microsoft+allowed+piracy+to+...
My Journey with Microsoft started with Dos3.3 I think. Was a big win 3.1 and Word 2 user ... etc right up to Win 11 now. So I have seen a lot of MS dodgyness over the years.