Cisco is officially disaggregating IOS-XE, IOS-XR, and NX-OS from their hardware

http://www.futuriom.com/articles/news/cisco-unbundles-ios-after-at-t-goes-full-whitebox/2018/03

We've been wondering if/when this was going to happen. But as time goes on, it feels less important. Other than some of the niche features and protocols, most of what Cisco can do in software, many others can do as well. It's just a matter of learning different syntax. As always, if you know how the protocols really work, it's not that big of a deal to transition.

I think the real questions that are going to come out of this are regarding support models for enterprises who require hand-holding (which I believe is most of them).

Thanks to Tom Hollingsworth for the link.