rohitj - 3:07 pm on Aug 1, 2006 (gmt 0)

Maybe another more sneaky reason is to insure that the beta was being downloaded by UNIQUE users. A $1.50 might be enough to stop someone from installing this on 7 of their computers sitting around the various rooms of their house which may not serve the interest of the beta program. With the type of network infrastructure that microsoft has in place, it shouldn't cost that much for them to serve.