This was a symbolic convergence, a ritual unification of cathedral and bazaar into a suburban steakhouse of existential despair.

Linux people have forgotten, but "the bazaar" is not Windows. It's old Unices and BSDs. Say, Solaris and FreeBSD.

Somewhere in the void, the ghost of Richard Stallman is chain-smoking over a broken Emacs install, muttering, “I warned you bastards.”

That forgives your sins.

The only thing missing from that picture was a scroll of NDAs and a PowerPoint titled “How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Surveillance Capitalism.”

I felt that line.

Weep for the dream. Or laugh maniacally, if you still know how.

I (proverbially) weep because there were 4 people at that dinner, and you didn't even mention the guy who made VMS.