Microsoft issues style guide to PC manufacturers for Vista launch

Inspired by Apple encroaching on their turf with the Mac's newfound ability to be the only PC one would ever need, Microsoft has issued a PC case style guide to manufacturers in an effort to help get customers excited about the ambiguous day in the future when Vista launches (apparently, Vista's having trouble stirring excitement on its own). Dubbed the "Windows Vista Industrial Design Toolkit", its purpose is to give the likes of HP and Gateway (certainly two of the worst style offenders) a few ideas on how to stop beating their case designs "with the fugly stick", as Engadget puts it so lightly.

All joking aside though, this could ultimately be a good thing for the PC case design industry as a whole (yes, Macs included). The real question, as the Business Week report which broke this story states, is: will the industry bite? Ultimately, as the old adage goes: more competition is good for the consumer.