I was following the logic in the original post: I'd be worried if I was Microsoft. And I know their profit is driven by enterprise, but today's startups are to

I was following the logic in the original post: I'd be worried if I was Microsoft. And I know their profit is driven by enterprise, but today's startups are tomorrow's enterprise customers. I think that's very true, and for that reason, Microsoft should be worried. For a young startup, free and open source is a more economical way to get up and running quickly without eating into your ramen budget. For 2-3 guys in a tiny apartment, setting up a few LAMP boxes in a closet is basically free. Even if Microsoft is actually better than the free alternatives, the fact that it costs money is a deterrent for many startups, who in a few years will become big enterprise customers.