I've heard many go on about Hardware synths being a thing of the past and that Soft synths are here now for the future. Personally I prefer my hardware and find such software plugins etc.. quite piddly and false. Not to say that many don't produce great sounds or that they aren't created by knowledgeable and hardworking individuals. They are just not for me, right now anyway.
I just don't think the likes of Access, Korg, Roland etc... are going to suddenly say "Oh well, lets close all the manufacturing plants, cancel our tradelines and halt all prototype research, software synths is the way to go".
Yeah, lets all ditch the hardware and start creating software only so that some bunch of hackers can crack them all and put them on the web for anyone to download for free. I don't think so!
There is a growing market for software as far as I can see which appears to be stemming mostly from noobs sitting at their PC wanting to be superstar DJ's after hearing their mates bung together a techno boom boom track on Fruityloops. Again, there is some shit hot proffesional software out there so i'm not knocking it completely.
Ultimately I think neither hardware nor software will fade, there will always be a place for both.
Did the Piano die when electronic keyboards were invented?
Exactly.