For the most part this is only a transition to subscription based OS.
subs are much more prevalent now than 10 years ago, especially from MS.
More prevalent, but that doesn't make them popular. Like when BMW tried to introduce a subscription for things like heated seats, which they eventually had to U-turn on.
While I'm in no doubt that MS would love everyone to be paying subscription fees to run Windows, there's no clear way for them to get that to happen.
Make Win 11 subscription - i.e. tell people that the computer they've been using free for years will soon refuse to work unless they start paying MS a monthly fee - and there will be uproar.
Make Win 12 subscription, people just won't upgrade to it.
Say 'Oh, Win 11 remains free but people need to pay for security updates' and many people just won't bother paying. Despite everything, MS wants people's PCs to be secure because it's MS who looks bad when they're not.
People are used to Android or iOS on their other devices. MS really wants to avoid a tipping point where Chromebooks and Linux start to become widely discovered by casual consumers as practical alternatives for their PCs. Even if they kept hold of the business market, over time a greater market share of another OS means more software developed for it which means more chance for businesses moving across to it.
Subscriptions are more prevalent, but for things that can be viewed as optional such as TV channels, gym memberships, or an investment, such as professional suite software. A non-optional subscription on something the average person cannot do without for general life doesn't get viewed as a subscription, it gets viewed as a tax.