I'm not really crazy about Google's idea. Right now we do not have any data on the environmental affects of keeping balloons in the atmosphere on a continual basis for me to be for or against the idea. We probably won't know until we try it and find out later on down the line. Personally I don't trust the whole "internet everywhere" initiative Google and Facebook are on. It feels like a backhanded attempt at creating your own telecommunications company.
I would rather Microsoft continue to do what they do well, than become a jack of all trades like Google. If it were me I would invest in the idea, but let another company do it.
No one is forcing anyone to purchase a subsidized Windows Phone. Just buy a phone unlocked. Given the state of the platform, its stupid to pay a few hundred, not just Windows Phone but any smartphone. None of these smartphones, Windows Phone, Android, and iOS, are worth the money IMHO. Its not the hardware. It is continual changes in software that occur every few months. Until there is real, quantifiable differentiation between phones and their hardware who cares if your favorite phone is on your favorite carrier. Especially on Windows Phone, where a $100 phone will suffice for 99% of the customers. I'll take the subsidized phone, unlock it after 6 months, or root (if on Android or iOS). Just silly to pay the full price for a phone whose real purpose is as an ATM for developers, OEMs, ad networks and salesman. This is what phones have become, thanks to the Internet. Computers too but smartphones have taken it to a whole different level. If you're going to mine for data why do I have to look at a bunch of ugly balloons in the sky so you can provide data to third world countries and third world rural communities in America?