This is a study published at the French HEC (analogous to the US Harvard Business School) by Bruno Lemaire and Bruno DeCroocq. In it they predict Microsoft's downfall. You can download the entire document PDF in French. I will excerpt some points from the article's 18 pages.

"Article published at Hautes Etudes Commerciales February 2004.

"Microsoft, world leader of software to the point of being almost in a monopoly position today, is caught in the web, as prey to a situation of rupture which even calls its structure and business model into question.

"It can seem presumptuous, or at least paradoxical, to announce the death of a giant, just when its presence in the field of information technology seems so obvious. Could we, like so many others, be caught up with the 'anti-Microsoft' syndrome, associated with these stereotypes: the software of this company is 'rotten', the only genius of Bill Gates is his sense of marketing, and their only strengths are their mafia-style practices?

"No, Microsoft software, whatever its limitations, is at a good level, and we ourselves are (or have been) enthusiastic users....The reasons for which we take this position about the death of Microsoft are less technical and more cultural."

There are many more pithy insights in the article about various aspects of Microsoft's downfall, occasioned by the revolution caused by the Internet and FLOSS. The hacker ethic, for example, is summarized by the aphorism "I give therefore I am". Further evidence is provided by a summary of the history of the Gnu Public License, as well as an excerpted translation of Peruvian lawmaker Villanueva Nuñez's letter to Microsoft Peru. Finally, the article leaves some hope for Microsoft, pointing out that Sony originally made rice cookers.

The most important part of all this is not so much the content, which most hitchhikers already know about; it's the fact the this paper is from an influential mainstream French university. This makes the release of the paper important as it recursively affects the very situation it's describing.