As I noted back in May, Microsoft cannot afford to lose the education market: This is where future generations of potential customers get their formal introductions to computers and software, in particular productivity software. And that experience will shape their expectations later in life, both in higher education and in the workforce.

But Microsoft is losing the education market, at least in the U.S.: This year, more than half U.S. primary- and secondary-school students---or over 30 million students---use Chromebooks and Google's cloud-based productivity services. Meaning that the rest of the market is split between Windows, Mac, and iPad.