I much agree with you and AnotherNetNarcissist
And I quite appreciate articles bye Matt Asay but there are some things to remember.
The Personal Computer was never meant to be a business computer, it was designed to be
a personal home device.
The fact that it was adopted bye business is the most expensive failure to have happened
to business.
Gates is truly a guy who was looking for the mass market. When Windows did well he had a look at the Fortune 500 and realized that there where other mass market devices too, like music players, game consoles and cell phones. That we can do too, he said, and I will become the Chief Architect because I invented the computer.
Even the Xbox is a failure, money wise, as it has probably not made any profit yet, considering its development costs.
It is a bit hard to compare Apple and Microsoft. Apple has always done both the OS and the design. Jobs does have a clue about design, also he was wise enough to adopt a *nix* OS.
Also he was there when inventions happened while Gates was there more or less bye accident
(an accident bye IBM).
Dell a hardware producer like so many others. Do they produce anything in the US any more.