Is the era of Microsoft ending?

They're loved when they start, they're feared mid-career, then at the end they become legends.

I'm old enough to remember when Jack Nicklaus was first replacing Arnold Palmer at the top of golf's heap. Augusta hated him. But in his own twilight, in 1986, they roared for Nicklaus like they did for no one else, ever. (Picture from Nicklaus.Com.)

When an athlete or star becomes a legend, of course, it's a two-edged sword. They don't fear you, they know you're going down, and so do you.

So it is, now, with Microsoft. All the respect shown Big Green at Linuxworld can't mask the fact that its era is ending, that in time the open source model will triumph.

Jim Zemlin spent this week pointing out some of the good things about the Microsoft era, like its support and organization, which Linux vendors can't yet match.

But in time they will. In time we'll look back on the Linux-Microsoft war and wonder what all the fuss was about.

That time is coming sooner than anyone in Redmond thinks.