@Shane
The Blender Network website is the start of what's to come, people used to laugh at Blender but they don't anymore unless they're hopelessly retarded.

Compare Blender from what it was to what it is now, how fast it's grown, that alone is indication of the momentum.  Blender will eventually become the Industry Standard 3D tool, so more and more you're going to see Blender skills being required, and in contrast, you'll less and less Max and Maya because the users of those programs won't be able to compete.  The Best graphics houses of the future are those that use Blender and have talented artists using it.  Always remember that from a business point of view, artists using those epically overpriced commercial programs, will never be able to undercut companies using Blender.  This in turn will piss-off the Max and Maya crowd even more, until eventually, they'll start learning Blender (even if they don't want to).

The likes of Adobe and Autodesk and the way they do business, is over - it's just a matter of time.

The same momentum will eventually encompass GIMP, and it will be GIMP skills that are required for 2D graphics work, not Photoshop, and again, you can see the momentum for GIMP building rapidly simply by observing what is happening across the web.  What used to be Photoshop this and Photoshop that, is rapidly becoming GIMP this and GIMP that.  Look on this very forum, how many times do you see people looking to Max or Maya, and how many times do you seem them looking to Blender?

These things aren't rocket science, and it's reached a point where what is going to happen is as sure as the sun is going to set tonight, and rise tomorrow.

• Blender is going to become the industry standard for 3D (it's obvious it is).
• GIMP is going to become the industry standard for 2D (perhaps not as obvious, but it is for the same reason as Blender is).
• Commercial OS will be the domain of backward-thinking companies in the future, that's why the're milking the users for everything they can (while they can).

Personally, I'm just really glad I have a brain, cause I think it's epidemic how many people don't seem to have a functioning one.  Anyway, I don't agree with what you said, but thanks for honoring me with a reply, [edited]