I'm a longtime Mac and UNIX user, so OS X is the OS I have been waiting for all my life. Having MS Office is key, especially in my field (science/engineering) where Office is the standard. On the desktop side, it keeps the Mac an accepted peer to Windows. On the UNIX side, it is one of the most compelling reasons people are switching to OS X instead of using Linux. The "concept" of running Office natively, side by side with our other UNIX stuff, is the single biggest killer app I have seen in the last 10 years. It exploits the best of both worlds.
The loss of MS Office would effectively kill the Mac in research and development, relegating it to the role of just another UNIX with a pretty face. I am the strongest Mac supporter you will find, but losing Office would make my job very difficult, and that makes platform loyalties get old very quickly. The reason I chose Mac OS X and Office is that it is by far the most productive combination for research and development. If that went away, the prospects would be bleak.
