Nonsense. Microsoft is not a stabilizing force. They are a force for stagnation if anything. There are no Linux programs that I know of that don't directly talk to the kernel or one of its services that cannot be recompiled successfully under Mac OSX. There is a functional XFree86 package for OSX users that let's UNIX desktop apps be recompiled under OSX and run just fine. Microsoft doesn't currently have anything to compete with that level of compatability.
The real danger to the industry is what will replace IA32. You can bet your bottom dollar that Intel and AMD both want to move away from it and toward their 64bit processors. They have no incentive to not try to get developers to switch so that they don't need to maintain two separate processor lines. Unfortunately for PC users there is no standard to move to. In the next few years Intel and AMD will be trying to push Itanium and Opteron respectively on John Q Citizen because that will be easier for them keeping up Pentium IX and K13 produces.