>  3) Is this just a bit of table thumping to reduce the licensing cost of
Windows 8?

Maybe its table thumping to get a copy of the Windows8 source code ???

I recollect that in the 80's when a system shipped into China then it had to include the source code listing of the operating system and applications in hard-copy.

One method was to ship it as mircofiche sheets. Each image on a sheet was a photograph of the source code printed out onto lineflow paper.