I would've loved to see MS release the One with their original intent in full swing. I don't think they really tested out the waters, especially with the release a few months away. All this information was information overload and it was all delivered in basically a month. That's not enough time for talks of it to even really die down. Sony's reveal sure didn't help the issue and was the final straw, but I still think MS made a mistake in pulling the plug so early. Of course people were going to react to it negatively at first (with a small few who didn't mind), but they didn't really give time for the idea to sink in. Not to mention MS pretty much botched any further clarification of their policy and that was when they really shot themselves in the foot.
With the DRM policy they lost the trust of many consumers. Now with their flip to abandon DRM, I'm sure they've lost a few who had originally trusted in their idea (though these people will be quick to forgive once the system drops). As PC said, it comes down to money. They want to keep their strong momentum from the success of the 360 running, but it could be a double edged sword. We do know they have the capability to turn DRM on/off whenever they want, that's a scary thought for those who don't support DRM. And now that the public knows that DRM will be lifted (for now) they may wait it out for prices to drop since alot of people don't want to spend +$500 on a gaming system, I mean throw in a game (yes, one game) and a 2nd controller you're easily another $100 into it (same with ps4), so that's +$600 right there. Majority of consumers find that amount of money as a significant hit to their wallets.
Yeah the holidays are rolling around with the release of both One and PS4, but in this technology filled age, parents can keep a kid happy with a $200 tablet or a cell phone (man the age kids get cell phones these days...). Console gaming has been slow with many quality games coming to tablets nowadays. I don't ever see an end to console gaming as there will always be a market, but it's kinda hard to justify spending $500-$700 on a video game console to the general public, when a tablet has games(and some) with portability for 1/3 of the price.