I had a big, long, TL;DR reply for this, but Slashdot killed it. lol. Probably for the best as I tend to ramble on long posts.
Basically, Intel is already feeling the effects of diminishing returns from Moore's Law. They hit the max of 4 GHz over 10 years ago and have switched to focusing on system-on-a-chip things and multicore to make up for it... but, not a lot of software uses multi-core very well. I recently recycled a 12 year old laptop with a single core Pentium 4 - not because of the CPU exactly, but because neither the CPU nor the integrated GPU which I could not upgrade supported H.264. I could play 1080p MPEG2 just fine, but it struggled with 720p H.264 video with 90%CPU. Modern CPUs have H.264 support. Most are APUs with some sort of 4K video support and early H.265 as well. I have a couple desktops, but I have 5 laptops - the latest, I think will last me at least 10 years. It's a Republic of Gamers ASUS. Even if I replace it within 10 years, that just means my slowest laptop will be handed down to someone else. lol. I use the laptops mostly as media PCs connected to HDTVs.
Intel can shrink another 3 or 4 times, but then they're done. 3D chips are great for lower power, but they won't increase speed much - they also will require innovative liquid cooling between layers as they'll be a ball of hot wires otherwise. Optical transistors currently max out at 10 Ghz, but that's just 2x or 3x the silicon speed, and INTEL doesn't see any reason to use the tech save for CPU to mobo connections.... because the fiber optics require power hungry lasers that have their own drawbacks.
I don't think Intel laments the end of Moore's Law. I think they look forward to not having to overhaul their foundries every couple years with expensive new equipment that always comes with yield issues. That would save them an immense expense on production costs. Also, they still own a ton of patents and a huge foundry they can leverage to maintain their leadership. With their R&D, they can continue to put more crypto, graphics, and components on the chips and re-design them for decades even if they don't get die shrinks. They aren't even using the die shrinks to get faster chips right now - just lower power as that's where the money is right now. They are killing the near-bankrupt AMD on all fronts, but ARM is still the leader in the mobile market which is hot right now.
Desktops have about an 8 to 10 year life cycle (used to be 3 years, then 5 years, then 7.. now approaching 10). Consoles have a forced 6 or 7 year life cycle (PlayStation release every 6 years, but it takes time... a year or more for people to buy in masse) Even Intel engineers see a future as early as 10 to 20 years from now where that life cycle extends to 15 or 20 years... and eventually even longer.
This is why most PC manufacturers are leaving the market as it's now a commodity - HP almost stopped making PCs a few years ago, but decided against it. IBM quit and sent their customers to Lenovo. Dell lost money for years and had its stock price fall until it went private (partly with MS loans) Now Dell has a huge pile of debt and may exit PCs for just corporate server and laptop contracts. HP, ACER, and Lenovo are most of what's left... and I bet MS would buy ACER in a heartbeat (likely after ACER trounces Lenovo or acquires it). HP, I dunno... I bet MS would let HP keep the server space if it gave MS the consumer space.
Why do I think this? Welll.... MS bought Nokia... and they make Surface and Surface Pros. They also make XBOX Ones -- which are modified low-end 8 core AMD DRM'd PCs with Radeon 7000 graphics that support 4K resolution. They also share a code base between Win 10, XBOX, and Windows Phone... and are giving away the phone OS while releasing Win 10 for free for users with Win 7 or higher. I can only guess that MS finally recognized that most people buy OSes with their new PCs and the OEMs and businesses pay for those licenses. It's pointless to fragment their user base over OS updates.
What does all this lead to? MS is determined to take on the Apple model. They have a phone, a tablet/laptop, a console/tv/desktop... and they now have a store where you can get the OS upgrades. They already sell you the XBox One at a loss b/c you buy the games. It would be trivial to make the XBOX successor in 2020 be a regular MS desktop with DRM sold at a loss b/c you'll buy apps and games. You can buy keyboards, controllers, monitors, etc separately and either use a long cable or wireless HDMI to connect to a TV. I currently use a laptop's HDMI output on a separate screen to stream 1080p content while using the laptop for games and web stuff... this XBOX Desktop would be no different.
Win 8 already makes it extremely difficult to install without setting up an MS account. Win 10, it may be mandatory... and MS says Win 10 will be its last OS ever - just lots of rapid updates from here on out.
I think you're forgetting that MS loves vender lock-in. They tried with IE, they tried with DirectX and ActiveX. Don't let their current warm 'n fuzzy attitude towards open source fool you - the EU mostly forced that upon them. Give them a decade, and they'll go full Apple. They've already said as much to reporters - they want more control over hardware, have windows as a service, and sell most software through their store - as it can be authorized, DRM'd, and a record of purchases backed up to restore if hardware dies. Most users would welcome it. Fewer choices, but less confusion, more security, better hardware support.
I think everyone's headed that way. Google has its nexus and chromebooks and chromecast, apple has its products, MS will have its own hardware... and then there will still be Roku, Steambox, etc. Even Ubuntu will likely have its own brand of hardware along with being licensed for various phones and devices.
By the time that happens, I'll be full Linux I hope :-) I prefer Linux Mint.... but... even they have their own Mint hardware! woot! Mintbox and Mintbox2!
http://www.linuxmint.com/store...