I agree with nină. It's not out of the question for LL to be crushed by any or all of the Open projects. I bear LL no ill will but their track record of development and customer care has burned a lot of very smart people who would like nothing better than to contribute to LL's death.
Aaron, you could be right. However, there's nothing saying that someone or anyone can't take a quantum leap forward with the existing technology once the Open projects are in full swing.
To me, that is what makes this a very tantalizing prospect. Seriously, when the Open projects move past alpha the sky is the limit in my opinion. I've been involved in a lot of open source projects over the years and all it takes is one moment of clarity for someone and a project can explode.
On the flip-side of that, a project can be ruined just as quickly.
Either way, I'm along for the ride - bumps and all.