&gt; ...I expect that intelligent people at Microsoft know that the old ways won&#x27;t work again [because] ... [t]he computer technology world has changed a lot since then ...<p>I&#x27;m not nearly as confident as you seem to be.<p>People with purchasing power can <i>still</i> be swayed by FUD. Less-technical bosses are not-infrequently swayed by marketing copy from glossy mags and giveaways from salesman rather than sound technical advice from technical staff. It&#x27;s abundantly clear that shadowy back-room deals and front-room exclusionary deals based on <i>tremendous</i> price cuts on widgets that have a near-zero unit cost are still tremendously effective.<p>I expect that within five or ten years, after this new crop of programmers have happily been making Microsoft software a critical part of their workflow, Microsoft will return to its traditional MO.<p>As I said earlier, for many of us this isn&#x27;t our first rodeo, and isn&#x27;t the first time Microsoft has played the nice guy for a little while. :)