You're a "don't confuse me with facts" guy, aren't you?
Microsoft won't buy Apple. In fact, if Apple ever gets in financial trouble, Microsoft will bail them out. Why? Because without Apple, Microsoft IS, for all practical purposes, a monopoly.
They did that in 1998, too.
So, sorry to shatter yet another one of your dreams, but that's not going to happen either.
MS would not be a monopoly if Apple folded. Other OS's are available, Linspire etc.
Why not convert everything to MP3?
As discussed here, converting your AAC files into MP3 files causes a loss of sound quality. For some people, and for some uses, this issue might not matter. You might not be able to hear any loss of sound quality at all, or, if you do hear a loss, you might not find it very objectionable. Converting to MP3 is also much slower than simply unlocking AAC files and leaving them in the AAC format.
The import thing is to be aware of the trade-offs of converting to MP3. There are advantages to MP3 as well, such as access to a greater variety of music players, burning 8-hour plus CDs that will play in your car's MP3-capable CD player, and an added degree of safety from any DRM "gotcha" games that might arise in the future with scrubbed AAC files which, as it might turn out, weren't scrubbed thoroughly enough.