>Sorry, didn't realise the fee was only $99; you're right, that's more of a nuisance fee than anything else
That's not your fault. It's part the press writing flamebait headlines to drive page hits and intentional FUD from some people repeating the story as 'RedHat forced to pay MS' and gloss over the $99/year which won't even start to mitigate MS' cost to run such a signing service.
I'm still concerned that MS is manning the tollbooth, though, for roughly the reasons you state. :)