Comment by barbecue_sauce

Hopeful outcome of this, provided IBM realizes it is the student in this situation:

IBM's historical reputation coupled with Red Hat's proven success and products creates a serious competitor to Microsoft at the small-to-medium enterprise level. As Red Hat gains share, other corporate Linux flavors ride the rising tide, and Linux finally captures the long tail.

Further out, Microsoft transitions to being a device company a-la Apple. Bill Gates comes back to save the floundering company but insists that each device offer mechanized vaccinations, leading to skyrocketing prices and general shunning from the populace, which has gradually devolved into rabid anti-vaccination fervor. Microsoft fails, and is ultimately embraced, extended, and extinguished by IBM/Red Hat.