I guess it depends on whether you think they'd do better as a hardware or software company. I've said several times over the years that I think they could do really well if they restructured and started offering their OS as competition to MS.
I mean, the division is artificial, anyway. They are opting not to compete, because they insist people buy their more expensive, though snazzy, hardware. They could have ported over to the PC years ago, though I assume they had "strategic agreements" in the form of the temporary Microsoft investment. I wonder if there wasn't a timeline involved in that agreement.
In the end, is the pride involved with being a "hardware" company worth keeping yourself down? Maybe I am overblowing it, but I think Mac would be a serious competitor with MC if IT folks could choose them without buying a building full of new hardware.
I've never bought the "works right out of the box" argument, because I think the complaints of limited software/hardware options are just as loud if not louder. I find it difficult to believe the average Dell computer is any more unfriendly "out of the box" than a g5.
The machines are beautiful, and maybe they could farm out their hardware business and keep the line going to some small extent. With designers and multimedia folks so enamored with Macs, though, and with low, low cost of PC hardware, i think you'd see lots of people make the "switch".
