There is no question Microsoft could charge more for its OS if it worked as well as products from Apple. This is the feeling of ZDnet’s Robin Harris and it is difficult to agree with the many lucid points made in his article.

Still, it should be noted Microsoft now has to deal with many products which they don’t necessarily control. Apple has kept a much tighter reign on the products you could get working with a Mac.

For example, Apple makes the computers that work with their OS while Microsoft does not. When you consider all the manufacturers and various types of hardware challenges, BIOS revisions, etc you see Microsoft has become a victim of its own success.

Of course all of this is known and has been happening for years.

The reason things have changed as of late is that Apple is actually the market-share leader at something again which makes people more comfortable switching over to the Cupertino-based company’s products and services.

In addition, the cool factor of Apple and the look of the company’s product has only improved over the years.

No company seems to be able to match Apple in design except perhaps Bang and Olufsen.

Oh yeah… Why specifically do Mac users pay twice as much for OS X according to Harris? Because people are willing to pay more for products that work correctly with little penalty for being an early adopter.