I really don't see why so many people expect this to be comforting.
In one thread everyone will be so sure that ARM devices are the future, and in the next nobody needs to worry about secure boot because nobody will ever want to use ARM.
The near term threat is that they would change the terms of a sticker program. The longer term threat, that hardware becomes locked to Windows, is disturbing but I don't see how it would be anything other than annoying without extensive user-hostile legislation (because we are already at the point where a very useful computer on a stick costs ~$100 and there are lots of players that will continue to want capable open boards for servers).
Are you talking about the x86 sticker terms? I am concerned about ARM.
I don't think x86 is going to change dramatically, I just think it is going to continue to be marginalized. I, like many other consumers it seems, want a small thin fanless ARM computer.
Only if the device is manufactured under heavy partnership with Microsoft. Something tells me we'll see much like we have now, a handful of devices which are locked (much like anything running iOS) and the great majority not.
There's also no prohibition from Microsoft on having two different SKUs for the same hardware.
In one thread everyone will be so sure that ARM devices are the future, and in the next nobody needs to worry about secure boot because nobody will ever want to use ARM.