I imagine there's a similar number of employees at both companies that would like to create useful, innovative products.
But only one company actually lets it's employees create innovative products that come to market. Zune? Never made it outside of the US, Vista lost MS millions because nobody trusted it to work…
I started on computers using DOS based machines for some years, before changing, reluctantly, to a Mac, as it was the interface for the Crosfield scanner I was going to use. A couple of days was all it took to show me the superiority of the Mac OS, and this was in '95, well before the introduction of consumer products like the iMac. My first Mac was a beige tower, only the OS set it apart from a Windows PC. Professional use of Macs in a working environment proved their superiority to me, not hype. The iMac brought decent computers into the home as a nice looking machine that owners felt they could have out on show, instead of hiding under a table being kicked and covered in crap, and I truly fail to see any problem with that. Would you buy a new TV that was ugly and shut down on you every other time you switched it on? 'course not. So why criticise Apple for making products that consumers find attractive, are very easy to use, and don't need replacing every eighteen months. My own PowerBook is six years old and working fine, and a Mac I started using in '96 was only retired this year, at a different company because it couldn't keep up with the demands being placed on it.