You miss the point. I never said MS is a great competitor. I meant it would gain us all if they were.

Wouldn't it be great for example if they released IE under the GPL? It's not at all likely today, but what if, in ten years, that's their only option if they want to stay competitive?

Wouldn't that be even better than the two other options you listed? Isn't competition what we (the consumers) are looking for? I would love seeing Microsoft getting their act together; making web development easier and forcing Mozilla, Apple, Google and the others to be even sharper.