Microsoft IS always finding ways to make money. Ever notice how dependant ATi cards are on Direct X? Look at the demos for the 9800 on the ATi website for instance, it tells us that the graphics card uses alot of Direct X's features to provide us with those beautiful clear cut graphics. Once Direct X 9.1 is out... I don't know how ATi cards can continue to win Nvidia's. If you look at the FX 5900 Ultra demos on the Nvidia site, you'll see that the graphics depend largely on the graphics card's own power.

Real Time Demos for ATI Radeon 9800 PRO: Note extensive use of Dx's pixel shaders.

Dusk Demo (Nvidia): Usage of 5900's vertex shaders

Other Nvidia demos also mainly using its own technology to create virutal reality

Other ATI demos also dependant on Dx's features to create virtual reality