The FTC in these actions is attempting to protect the stockholders, and their feeling is the stockholders would be hurt by punishment, so for this sort of case, this is the normal settlement. Only in extreme and unusual cases would fines and penalties be applied.

This is a routine "cookie jar reserve" situation and does not affect Microsoft's overall figures, so no restatement is needed. What it did is smooth out the revenue curve, and the FTC and exchanges feel stockholders would rather see the detail at "higher resolution".

. . we are not talking entrepreneurship now, are we?

The FTC rules, which were originally stock exchange rules, are designed to protect those who purchase stock in the secondary markets (stock exchanges) from fraud perpetrated by officers of the company.

Those who backed the original "entrepreneurs" bought their stock on the primary market - by direct investment (Venture capitalists) or through an investment banking firm during an IPO.

This puts the FTC in the uncomfortable position of having to control the behavior of corporate officers without damaging the corporation, because damaging the corporation would damage the people they are supposed to be protecting.