You shouldn't say there is no end in sight. I doubt Microsoft is going away any time soon but linux / open source / et al have put some chinks in the armor. Years ago Bill Gates was saying that his worst fear, the thing that kept him awake nights, was that Microsoft would wind up as the new IBM. I'm not sure how old you are but when I started working professionally, 1980, IBM was as dominant as Microsoft has been in recent years. One truism from that time was "IBM isn't the competition, they're the environment." Another was referring to their "competitors" as "the BUNCH" -- Burroughs, Univac, NCR, Control Data, and Honeywell. (Not positive about Control Data being the C, this is from memory).

Speaking of the old days, I saw in the news that Dennis Ritchie died. Now there was a giant. And the things he had a hand in are very much alive.

>Perhaps you are dillusional. Yes, Microsoft has changed due to competition and Open Source, but they are chugging along just fine, with no end in sight.
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>I don't see a good business model for "free".
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>>The open source movement is forcing Microsoft to change. In fact someday I might read an e-book with the title "The rise and fall of Microsoft" as a direct result of Apple and Linux.
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>>Have you seen the price for python, ruby, etc...
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>>Johnf