When I was in College I was a huge Linux Geek, I even contributed code to GHex and Ximian Setup Tools (at the time). I had a really big hatred against Microsoft and Closed Source companies.

After a while I understood that Microsoft is not going away, it costs too much money to move companies to other platforms. And is just not worth it. There is not enough value added compared to the cost it brings, and then you are also tied to a platform, new but still tied. There is really no freedom.

Now I see it different. Options need to exists. And if Microsoft (the image of Closed Source) disappears, we are not free anymore. We have no choice but Open source. Choices need to exist. But instead of having the choice we have to take at work and the choice we can take at home, we can have the best of and both worlds at the same time.

I think the move Microsoft is doing, while slow, is going in that direction. That is why I think Azure will make .Net open source, and at last have it our way. .Net in any platform.

The great thing about .Net, as Miguel has pointed out is that they built a framework to build languages on top of .Net. That is why I dislike Java. It is their way or the highway. With .Net (and Mono) we can have Visual Basic, C#, C++, Ruby, Python, Boo, and any language the community wants. And you can have them communicating with each other. That is so great.

It gives you so much freedom. We just need to make .Net Open Source. We need the community to take power in building the framework. For now, Mono has to suffice.