Hi cgiles
As far as this approach being the wave of the future, it's hard to say. The 'lazy' will always be among us (ask Ian). Those devices that require a substantial investment in time and study in order to realize their potential, will always have a limited market IMO. It also depends on the way music itself goes.
I don't think it will be a quick transition, but I believe it's a guaranteed transition and that it's already well underway.
Right now in the arranger VS workstation world, Workstations dominate arrangers many times over in sales and people who buy them are prepared to put in the extra work it takes to create something on them. So the vast majority of people are technical minded.
The DAW / VSTi PC setup is also hugely popular, easily many times the Arranger market too, and it has hurt the workstation market. The response there was to start integrating workstations into the software world by including applications that make the workstation display on a DAW like a VSTi, and to include full editor abilities.
The existence of the OASYS alone is proof that KORG are developing OPEN keyboards and you can bet that the future of the company is pinned on that technology. They spent 10 years on the OASYS project so you can expect to see a little OASYS in many products to come.
Not to mention the fact that there are already a number of dedicated VSTi devices out now like Open Labs, Receptor, V-Machines and now Lionstracs. Being a V-Machine owner myself I can tell you that they are very popular. You just need to hang out in the right places to see this.
So, it's already happen and Lionstracs, Open Labs and SMPro Audio are just the first out of the gate to support the needs of the next generation keyboards.
If electronic music (as depicted in Sci-Fi movies, etc.) begins to totally replace more traditional music (classical, folk), then perhaps machines like this WILL be the easiest way to produce such music.
There will always be countless styles of music that cover every instrument imaginable. Orchestral music for example has been around longer than any other style of music and yet you can find guys all over the world now sitting in a home studio sequencing the entire score for block buster movies.
Just hang out on the VSL forums and you will see what I mean.
The sound you can produce with software far exceeds closed keyboards. Take PianoTeq as the perfect example. It's a 16MB program based on modelling technology and it sounds exactly like a real piano.
There's not a closed keyboard or sample library in the world that could compare to it it's so realistic and totally playable, just as if your playing the real thing.
But what is it they will be replacing? Certainly not acoustic instruments.
There never will be a substitute for the real thing, but applications like VSL and countless others will certainly take away a huge chunk of their business.
Why hire an orchestra when you can hire a Studio that can produce the same sounds with VSL.
It's actually an interesting subject, the future is certainly going to be different and exciting.
Regards
James