Sorry, I don't get your point here. Since Jolla decided to sell SFOS X individually, they need to somehow keep track of who bought a licence and who don't. The easiest way for this is obviously by using the Jolla Account which you probably already use to access the Jolla store.

I agree with you that such restrictions are a negative thing, but I don't see any better way to handle the verification thing. Tying the licence to a specific model would be even worst in my opinion, since this means a lot of effort if you need to replace your phone. Furthermore, it probably means some kind of online activation (which truly would be a microsoft thing) and maybe even regular license checks.

So, how is the solution to bind the license to your Jolla account a "microsoftish rent your software" thing?
What solution would you suggest to Jolla?