Ahhhhhhhhh
A well written article that shows genuine affection for the topic at hand. I was too young to use Peg (I was 12 in 1990!) but I have suffered MS Mail, Notes and Outlook (Express and Office editions both POP3 and Exchange connected) so I can at least feel where you're coming from.
Alas, you are right. No one man can fight the good fight forever and open source might just be the way to go in the end.
I look at what rubbish is foisted upon users and hope for the day when I work for an IT Manager or company that will let me experiment with other options in the open source world. Until then it's Office and Vista all around. :(