Re: application compatibility
"That would be solved by making an open source 'windows' that implements the full windows API."
The documented one or the full one with the undocumented bits?
We've been there. Open/LibreOffice have the problem that there are so many undocumented gotchas in Office that keeping up with them is not feasible. When the open xml document standard came out, Microsoft tried to replace it with theirs - a massive kluge which included things like corner cases for W95. Office is more like Gormenghast than a cathedral, and one imagines Windows is much the same.
I'm sure it would actually save Microsoft effort in the long run to move everything over to Linux, but nobody is going to sacrifice such a competitive advantage.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
