I wonder how much longer Microsoft will be around as we know it, they are getting creamed by Apple and Google on the newer technologies, yes their legacy products should help them stay afloat for the near future, but beyond that....
Google has the resources to suck up users based on freeware, but if and when they become dominant, (MS becomes more irrelevant) it will not be free anymore. Open source is only “open” until they become the big gorilla.