I agree that MS has done a really good job for developers for a long time, not through altruism but because it represented a real "win-win".

But IMHO things are changing very quickly. In the portable device arena which is where we *are* headed, it's not proprietary MS vs the world, it's proprietary Apple vs the world with MS hanging off the side with confusing win6.5/7. In this case "the world" seems likely to do very well: already you can pre-order an Android tablet similar to the iPad for <US$150. The top end seems to be segmenting into cool Apple dudes and dudettes for whom Apple's proprietary interface is a Sneetch star. MS really doesn't seem to be part of that equation and has canceled its own tablet project. I hope they can sort it all out: a strong MS is in the interests of people who want to develop software in the first world, even for those who have joined open source.