Microsoft dictates what computers should look like

Microsoft published guidelines for computer-builders, on how they want Vista computers to look.
Somehow this feels like a desperate attempt at getting people to consider Vista. They are trying to appeal to the "dumb housewife" type of person. If you have ever seen a (stereotypical) married couple buy a TV you know what I'm talking about.
Typically this goes something like this:

husband: "Ok, let's buy this 100$ television. It's the cheapest model with all the features that we need."
wife: "eh, I don't know, I think it's kind of ugly. I think we should by that 800$ tv over there."
husband: "But that television doesn't do HDTV, and it's very expensive...."
wife: "but I like it and it has a built-in DVD player"
husband: "but we allready have a much better external DVD player"
wife: "it just looks better. I wouldn't want that ugly black box in our living room."

In the end the expensive television is bought.
The same thing happens with cars or any other situation where neither partner fully understands all the technical aspects of the decision.
That also holds for computers, especially now the megahertz myth is comming to an end. Even most professionals and hobbyists can't tell you what processor gives the best perfomance / bang-per-buck without consulting benchmarks. To the laymen it's impossible to compare computers on technical specifications.
Microsoft knows that, so they hope that people will compare computers by their looks, and therefore buy the wonderfull looking Vista computers, regardless of their real needs.