If anything it's really going the other way. Free stuff keeps catching up with the most expensive pay-for stuff from a year or two ago. If I lost access to all the hosted AI today I don't think I'd really feel like I'm missing out.

I'd also disagree Linux is the top notch kernel. It might be the most universal one because of drivers and licensing and that makes it my personal favorite because it "just works" with pretty much no fuss (technical or social) but there are a number of kernels out there with better features.