"It signals that even when Microsoft has not yet released this service to their own ecosystem they are at least thinking of bringing it to competing eco systems."
The explanation that in order to have an excellent digital assistant on one's PC or tablet requires the data that one gets from the phone you carry all day long makes perfect sense. There is no doubt about that premise. There is also the all so realistic conception that the majority of people who might be expected to use Cortana on their PC or tablet would not have a Windows Phone device. You should also note that they explicitly mentioned that they were wondering if Cortana might just need to know what was happening on the Android/iOS phone implying the possibility that the full digital assistant would not be used on Android/iOS devices. Of course MS should have this conversation internally, they would be incompetent if they didn't. Their development process is no doubt long enough to where even if they made a decision today, Cortana would have rolled out internationally in the meantime. They need to consider what their plan is in advance.
Personally I am happy that we got the opportunity to see part of the internal dialogue and to some degree I am "happy" about the blowback from the community. I am also satisfied about the response from Microsoft acknowledging some of our concerns, confirming that they are in fact reading comments (I believe a competent company would be) and reiterating their support for WP. While from my perspective some of the blowback from our community was over the top and unwarranted, I am "happy" that if Microsoft didn't know it before (they probably did), they certainly know now that a significant percentage of our community is unhappy with apps that are subpar on WP and superior on other OS's, or apps that are released first on other OS's, or relatively poor performing apps/features on WP. That is appropriate feedback and MS needs to know that makes some of us very cranky. So when we think you might be snatching our new toy away from us and giving it to the snotty bratty other babies, we're gonna cry. Keep in mind I was one of the people arguing that Cortana should be exclusive to MS OS's with only a "background process" on other OS's.
Personally there was no Cortana Gate, there was only a company trying to figure out what they want to do in the future. I am also a big believer in having a company enter into a iterative dialogue with their customers about the plans, future features, or problems people are having. I think that feedback is important to a company and creating a dialogue with the consumer should be reinforced. Personally I think such a dialogue is superior to "shut up and ship." From the company side they need to emphasize that what is discussed is only a range of options to be considered in the future. From our side as consumers we should feel free to express ourselves including our dissatisfactions or disagreement with the policies outlined, but I think it is also important for us to remember the discussion is only about POTENTIAL options and to try to avoid hyperbole and what seems to be the internet's forte of "cranking it up to eleven". If it is our habit as a community to overreact to a discussion about POTENTIAL options, then MS may consider walking back having a more transparent relationship with their "rabid" community. So we should be as mature as we can be so that we can take part in a conversation that MS will need to have internally anyway. It is to our advantage and in fact theirs, that we be able to participate. Let's be a good partner in this dialogue.