[wlesieutre]

I got it in the first year (was actually running all the insider builds before the retail release).

The free license was tied to my motherboard which promptly died, so I had to buy a new one at full price.

EDIT: And besides, just because they're not an essential feature doesn't make me happy that the previously included things have been removed. Say what you will about Apple's hardware, but they went the opposite direction with bundled software. Keynote/Pages/Numbers used to be an optional package ($50 IIRC), but shifted to an included feature. They don't even have banner/video ads shoved all over.

[BrandonLive]

This is in fact untrue. You would not have needed a new license for a replacement motherboard if that really happened. At worst you might need to make a phone call to MS, though even that is an unusual case.