. . to make sure he got a good supply of the latest versions of everything before anyone else could get any at all.

On the other hand, Microsoft sees Dell as the major shipper of its only two profitable products (until Microsoft has its own branded PCs to sell).

The largest PC brand is "White Box", with nearly half the desktop market worldwide and a growing server share, but "White Box" brand is unrully, very difficult to negotiate with, doesn't pay for Superbowl advertising, and really would rather not ship Microsoft products at all if they didn't have to.

Yes, I expect Microsoft will have its own PC brand, targeted at the home market, for best control of content delivery and digital rights management. First XBox, then the "Home Gateway" server (shipping soon), next the PC. Dell will not be pleased.