What's up with Microsoft whining about Apple?

Some of you may have read this week that Microsoft has launched a campaign slamming Apple for "the apple tax". Basically it's the old argument that a Mac costs more than an equivalent PC...
What are they afraid of? Is it the fact that most people would rather have an iPhone than a windows mobile phone? Or the fact that almost anyone would rather have an iPod touch than a Zune?

Hmmm...
Do PC's come with a virus tax? A support tax? An OS upgrade tax–I mean your PC comes with vista but if you want more of the features that are available on every copy of OS X you have to upgrade to Vista ultimate or is it vista business or vista business ultimate or vista premium service pack 1?

Any PC notebooks out there carved from a single piece of aluminum? The fit, finish, build quality, OS and service/support of Macs are far superior than these so called equivalents and consumers are flocking to them in droves. And yes, if you have to or want to run windows Macs do that better than most PC's. Anyone else remember that PC World article that revealed the fastest windows vista notebook was a mac?

I mean would you rather have this 17" Toshiba for $4,199 or this 17" Mac starting at $2,799?

But hey, don't take my word for it: Here is Bill Gates take on the Mac.