When enough bells are ringing, Microsoft will suddenly realize that it's lost the most important asset it ever had its monopoly. All of us benefit, all of us win. The monopoly company benefits because it has to make a real choice, using real gray matter, of whether it is going to compete on level ground. The competition benefits because it either will face an invigorated opponent which is always good for business or will sail into the leadership of its field without firing any more shots. We benefit because we get better products from the emboldened competitor and, if the decision goes right, from the former monopolist, too.
Competition is what matters.
Competition is all that matters, in fact. Improvements don't come from guys in their garages who want to save the world. Crazy things come from guys in their garages who want to save the world. Improvements come from trying to make something better, and trying to make something better comes from competition. So that's why I write about Linux and about Linux software.