Pimp, as to saying that Microsoft is indestructible...Totally untrue. 70% of all their revenue comes from Windows. If they make one wrong step, and piss OEMs off, it's all over. Personally, I think Longhorn will be that step. It is going to run off proprietary hardware, and that will kill Windows. When that happens, I'm going Linux.
No one in the whole industry will want to have parts that will be totally incompatible with the new standard lying around. Lets say Dell is getting ready for the Longhorn switch. They run off proprietary hardware already, but it does comply to the current IBM PC standard. The Longhorn hardware is nowhere even near the IBM PC standard. What will Dell do with all this old hardware that will become useless? They can't make Linux consumer PC's, as that is against Microsoft's licensing agreeement. Companies like Asus, AOpen, Abit, and MSI will suddenly have all this hardware lying around that has lost most of it's appeal and value. Retailers such as Newegg will also feel the burn, because they will have to sell hardware at cut rates before, as well as after, the Longhorn switch. It will not happen, EVER. Even if they shut off hardware manufacturing, odds are they will still have lots of parts lying around in warehouses that are almost useless, or have little value. Selling them at reduced rates will only make them lose money. Also, the appeal of dual booting Windows and another OS will be gone, so consumers will not want to build or buy one PC for Windows and one for Linux, or another operating system. The whole concept is flawed. Microsoft is reinventing a standard that is fine already and is incredibly well established. They will not be able to pull it off, it will never happen. They do not realize that by doing this, the whole industry will feel a sting, and the industry frankly does not want to do this.