What if you love FOSS, need to turn revenue and hate Microsoft? Necessity is the mother of all inventions. Thus, behold: THE MICROSOFT TAX!

It will not mean an end to Pay-As-You-Want, which will only occur with the Steam Early Access release, which is still quite a few iterations away. Furthermore, you can still claim the gold status version for Windows for free until the Steam Early Access version's release. However, if you're dying to experience what has been made of Total Rendition on Windows, I will now ask you to pay the full retail price; actually, just a penny more than that. 

The Microsoft Tax does not affect the Linux versions of Total Rendition nor does it affect the gold status Microsoft Windows version of Total Rendition once that's out, if you claim(ed) Total Rendition before the Steam Early Access Release. Thus, if you have claimed Total Rendition already and just want to have the gold status version for Windows for free, you have already done enough. You will NOT NEED to pay anything to claim Total Rendition, UNLESS you are 1) eager to specifically play Total Rendition 0.1.0.8 and 2) you're too lazy to give Linux a go. 

There are actually several ways to circumvent the Microsoft tax and you will not face any legal sanctions for pursuing any of these. If you feel it's too much, it's okay to copy. However, Microsoft has hindered production of Total Rendition on several occasions, notably with Bing lending its support to DC Thomson, so it's therefore appropriate to nudge players into considering alternatives for Microsoft Windows and to help address the dominance Microsoft currently undeservedly has.

-Mordechai Gabai