If one single solitary person has the power to scare Microsoft, It's Gabe Newell, and he's already sounded the horns of war. I think Microsoft is preparing to lose that fight; as of right now MS Office is about the only go forward product they have if windows dies. Nobody needs MS Studio on linux, nobody needs security essentials on linux, and nobody needs visio ever unless you work at a big company that's probably got windows XP on all their boxes anyway.
Microsoft has lost the server market in a big way, they never even entered the mobile market, and now the PC market is rallying against them; they have to prepare for their own future, and I think they see where it's headed. It really makes sense; there's no such thing as a windows enthusiast. Even the most staunchly rooted into windows are still seeing it as a neccessary evil... but you got linux and osx fanboys who genuinely enjoy the experience of using their OS. There's no such joy in windows...
I only use windows for games. how many people say that? There's almost nothing you can't do on linux for free that you'd have to pay money to do on windows, except gaming. that rule is changing now, isn't it?
