As a PC gamer, then a console gamer, I have to say that XBL style service has been on the PC for a while and for free. There are applications that Games for Windows gives already popular. Also, other then Halo 2 (Vista Only) and ShadowRun, I can't think of any Games for Windows. Unlike the 360, Microsoft can't make game publishers use one online service for all games. This is a concept that works well for consoles but not PCs.
On top of that, Microsoft has not made a central location for Live on PCs. With other similar services, like Steam, you have on location to go to get all of your information. Live does not have that for PC (at least that I know of).
As for the change from Fee based to Free, well most PC games have clans that run servers. These clans pay for the servers, and most of the time it is by donations. If you have to pay for Live, and a server, then you are basically paying for three things (you have to have your internet also), to play one game.
If they were to bring XBLA to Live PC, that would be fine by me, and I may even buy some games. It would be cool if I could buy it once for both systems, but we are talking about Microsoft.
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