Microsoft can refer to its customers however they like. If you think Microsoft sees a portion of its customer base as the "dumber ones", then those people might decide they no longer need Microsoft. You'll find a lot of software development is not done on NT-line systems, but rather some UNIX clone. That's a conscious decision by various firms. Microsoft, if .NET proves to be as incapable and unreliable as some suggest, and if they are forcing this as the one and only development platform, could well be on the way to losing a huge market share as their capitalization plummets. But the time line would be anyone's guess. People thought Apple would perish under Sculley. But because of huge cash reserves, Apple held on FOR YEARS, until Jobs returned to rescue the firm.