Without getting people to pay a premium, it isn't possible to make things that are 'Apple-gorgeous'. Not to mention the Linux market is so small to begin with...

You just have to make the hardware very very desirable and do the integration right. Like what Sony does with consoles, Microsoft does with consoles, Apple does with nearly everything, and most Android phones do now.

Note that the parent is also wrong: Linux PCs typically cost more than their Windows equivalents because there's no crapware to subsidize the cost.

You've just described Windows.

The article is wrong by the way. It says, "has not articulated a unique and compelling vision for the future of computing since Apple’s iPhone rocked it to its core in 2007"

Yes, the iPhone was a big deal but Linux is and has always been a far bigger deal. Microsoft can out-spend and out-compete anyone on their own turf. They cannot do this with Linux as Android shows. This really does seem to signal that Microsoft may have to become a lot more like Apple in the hardware/software integration stakes. If you think of the very log view (30 years) there is no way any company can build and maintain a monopoly in any one sector indefinitely. What other company has ever been able to do that? The PC market is dwindling. And eventually there will be a third player and then a fourth player. Eventually Microsoft is going to have to port Office to Linux.

But it seems like a nice reseller opportunity if Google would allow it.