Vendors + distributions are all committing suicide by pandering to the app store model, tablet interfaces and walled gardens. Noone is killing anyone.

Linux pissed the power users off (the entire market segment no less) during the gnome2 to gnome3/unity transition.

Apple are pissing power users off with their walled garden growing higher and some shoddy unreliable features.

Microsoft are pissing off power users with the same mind bending crapfest changes i.e. Metro.

It's all gone to shit actually. I really wish I did something else for a living.

I'm sitting here on a T61 with Debian on it, awesome window manager and xterms. It's the last bastion of common sense for the power user.