I think ultimately your interpretation is correct in your last paragraph, but I do wish someone in government would explain what they were trying to incentivize with the change.

Maybe they felt like software companies were too heavily incentivized by the tax code to invest in unproven, unsustainable businesses and would structure their businesses in a way that meant they’d never end up paying taxes.

Startups would blow a bunch of money on R&D for unprofitable moonshot ideas for a few years then the company would fail most of the time, with the government missing out tax revenue where workers could have been allocated to more profitable ventures.

Still, I think that the more cynical take is more likely (big companies lobbying to make it more difficult for small companies to disrupt their businesses)