Well, a few hours after writing my last rant, I came across the following article in InformationWeek: Microsoft Warns Of Open-Source Pricing Threat
Perhaps more people are evaluating Microsoft's pricing. I honestly didn't think the day would come this soon, but you never know.
By the way, my complaint about Microsoft has little to do with the products themselves - actually, I am usually pretty happy with Windows and Office for basic stuff. Sure, there is a lot of unnecessary bloat, but it works on an amazing number of systems. I just can't stand the pricing...