Hi Gary. My overall point is that generally, we (i.e. those of us involved enough in the SQL Server community to regularly be here discussing the viability of this new direction) don't need to directly use this in order to benefit from it. If you don't use it ever, let alone just "wait and see", you (all of us, really) will still benefit as long as enough other people do. I don't use most Microsoft products, but I benefit from others using them, proving the company with revenue to invest in things like SQL Server (before it was as functional and costly) and coming up with .NET / C# and a host of other things. If this new option attracts a bunch of new people who would otherwise not be using SQL Server, then there is a natural increase in demand for products and services related to SQL Server that many of us (i.e. not Microsoft) provide.
Now, I completely understand being frustrated at investing time and/or money into a technology (or whatever) that ends up going away, but that's just the nature of how things work. Some things last longer than others. But the point here isn't about early adoption, or that we as a group should generally be trying to install it and be excited to use it. I might be excited to use it, but to me is doesn't detract from the potential of this new option if nobody else reading my editorial is excited or even never, ever touches it. If thousands (or more) use it and need training, tools, or merely offer jobs that some people take leaving vacancies at companies running SQL Server on Windows, then we all win.