Propriety video game consoles only have about 20 years left in them at most, so that wont be too much of a loss for you there, but you still will have to deal with drm on computers. If another OS could supplant Windows as the biggest OS in the world, you could bet your ass that they'd have some form of drm on it, if they don't already.

DRM on consoles on the other hand is a somewhat ham fisted way of dealing with two different issues: Piracy and used game sales. The former is understandable and if it is done right the consumer has nothing to worry about. But the later while also understandable, is almost impossible to pull off without it being inherently anti-consumer with on disk dlc such as the locking game modes like multiplayer. And heaven help you is some jerk stole the DLC key that comes with the game. This is also why all software publishers are pushing digital distribution to be the primary why of buying of their products. This trend is not just on consoles ether. I picked up the Command and Conquer Ultimate Collection in box, at a brick and mortar store, and when I got it home to install it I found the box only had the soundtrack cd, and an Origin code for the games I just bought. The ONLY reason I can see EA choosing to sell the game in this manner is to prevent possible resale of my copy of the game.

In short publishers of EA's ilk don't trust their consumer base and will screw us over with drm or anti consumer practices unless we specifically use services like GOG to counter that. I don't envy the guy at GOG trying to get the old CODs or C&C here, after telling them "No DRM." Until that distrust of we, the consumer is resolved, nothing is going to change. Get used to the staus quo, fore it is going to be here a long time

Just because they seem to hold the lion's share doesn't mean that is how it will stay. Quite a few computer manufacturers are offering GNU/Linux to be pre-installed, or better yet, a blank harddrive and i can put my own stuff on it. There's also tiny computers that windows can't/won't support ever, and if you don't need much you will get everything you need from them (Raspberry Pi for example).

Eventually the line has to be drawn. GNU/Linux is no longer just a hacker's toy for when he has spare time, it is a full fledged OS, more stable than Windows, more open, free, and with a huge community. There are replacement applications for almost everything you'd want. And in those cases where it isn't an option, WINE has pretty good compatibility anymore so you aren't forced to dual-boot a computer. Probably the largest thing holding most people back is they are afraid to learn something new when they are so used to doing things a certain way. And perhaps worse is the older generations seem to forget what they've been using for decades. I rebuilt and cleaned out an extra computer i got, got all the basics installed (had XP on it) and took it to them. The woman who had been using XP for like 5-10 years FORGOT how to use the previous version of windows and it was only 6 months or so since she had sold the previous system (due to stupidity) when they got the new one with Windows 8 on it. (Well she is like 60-70....).

But it doesn't look like they'll be losing that battle any time soon. The house/incumbent/defender always gets an advantage. The big thing happening now is the massive paradigm shift people are taking with mobile computing -- tablets, smartphones, even gaming consoles are getting their own dedicated OS. And at the heart of any OS is memory juggling. (See how well DOS handled that -- remember having to make boot-disks to run certain programs?)

While many large manufacturers (e.g. DELL, HP) decided to even use non-Intel chipsets (AMD being the biggest competitor, though others like Transmeta existed before), most still pre-load their systems with Windows, Apple (which now is written for Intel processors instead of their Motorolla/IBM PowerPC processors), or nothing at all. Very few distribution sites will put Linux on their PCs unless that's the only OS they ship out.

Again, it's down to a paradigm shift -- if mobile devices, which the majority run off Android (Google's own Linux variant) become more ubiquitous than laptops and desktops (remember this attempt by Canonical?) then Windows might take a backseat... if Microsoft didn't develop the hell out of Windows 8 and Windows Mobile. Sure, both still need work, but they're preparing for a shift just in case.

And that WINE is still needed because... well...

I mean, one of the "getting old" jokes on Community (NBC) was that Cobra Commander (funny story) began losing his ability to appreciate new forms of music. It's totally true. I can't get used to new things... like Windows 8.1. (Although in this case it is because I give up on trying to look for drivers because I was too lazy to write my own.)

And this a reason is why proprietary gaming consoles will always exist in some form or another. It is simpler to boot up into a dedicated environment for said task. (Although in the future, "gaming consoles" might be relegated to "entertainment systems" that multi-task dozens of tasks including YouTube. Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if a Facebook-only phone really did succeed.)