Microsoft is okay if you like unstable operating systems.
Windows is a C++ clone of Macintosh's OS. Try reading the Apple v. Microsoft opinion sometime. It was Microsoft openly admitted in court that they stole Mac's design features, but their defense was that they had the license to do so.
Microsoft scammed Apple with an agreement that Apple's idiot legal team didn't read in 1985.
Also, I don't know what your sister and her husband did to their iPods to make them break so easily, but I still have mine from early 2007, and it works great.
Anyhow, we have Steve Jobs to thank for the GUI being available on PCs - Windows included - so I hope Apple has a great backup plan because last time he left, the company approached bankruptcy.
EDIT:
Incorrect.
Xerox's GUI had solved some of the problems that Apple was having in developing the Lisa, but it was anything but a carbon copy. At most, Xerox's system inspired Apple's development team to keep pushing ahead with the project by showing them that their problems could be solved.
Also, Xerox didn't exactly "give up" on it. The top brass at Xerox weren't interested in anything being developed that didn't have anything to do with photocopiers.