>Apple can do what it does because it controls both the software and hardware. Most Microsoft hardware products fail. I don't think they want to be in the PC building business.

They can't be, by definition. The PC, as it came to be 30 years ago, is the ultimate mix and match machine, and Microsoft built the empire on it. The whole idea of DOS, and then Windows, is that you can buy any machine, or assemble one from salvaged parts, and it should run a Microsoft OS. Trying to control hardware would be so un-Redmond.