Post OS future...save me.

READ THIS:
MICROSOFT OPENING STORES NEAR APPLE
http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=3358

AND THEN:
Microsoft has an uphill battle, certainly.

Historically, they have not been able to compete with Apple's perception in the marketplace. But they own the marketplace volume in many areas. It's hard to compare. In fact the whole point all along is that the comparison is almost impossible. The "Apple is cool and Microsoft is not" or "Microsoft is faceless evil and Macs are for poets" argument usually follows. The coming post-OS environment (cloud, web apps) is poised to make this a moot point.

The way I see it they are not going to be able to compete on Apple's terms (seamless experience) they will have to create a new paradigm and let users decide. This has not always been Microsoft's strongest suit and they are often depicted as the also ran candidate.

Buy what you like.