"This is going from merely potentially maybe kind of problematic into full-on dangerous. From what both Microsoft and Garrett have told so far, this seems like a perfect storm for Microsoft - they will essentially lock people into using Windows without actually doing any of the locking themselves; they're basically relying on the utter incompetence of OEMs. And let's face, three things in life are certain: death, taxes, and incompetent OEMs. This is so damn clever and diabolical I just can't help having some admiration for it."

Read here.

This is similar to what Sony does on the PS3. If my understanding is correct, this applies to hardware that has the W8 logo on the device. If the only do this to devices that have the logo as part of the design, then it is a fair practice and I can't fault Microsoft for attempting to protect their brand image. I am concerned that they will, sooner or later, start branding machines that do not have the logo at all. This already happens with cellphones so it is a real possibility. Most likely, this is directed at tablets and similar embedded devices that are traditionally branded by default. Desktop machine will probably not be affected but laptops may be, to some extent.

This is just speculation on my part though.