Totally untrue (Just talking desktops here)
If Apple wanted to, each year it could issue a list of ten configurations that have been tested to run OSX.
This way computer manufacturers could follow these configurations and HP could sell a Windows/Apple machine
Plus home hobbyists could build computers with these configurations
Apple wants to make big profits off the hardware you are forced to buy from Apple to run the OS. So Apple installs bugs in the OS and BIOS to force you to buy Apple hardware. Home hobbyists work around these crippling features as best they can -- And do in fact install OSX on their computers and certain Dell computers
The way things are the Apple advocates brag how they can run XP& Vista on an Apple computer.
But the converse would be true too--- If Apple allowed its OS to be legally installed on Windows computers
Yeah, apple already did that, it cannibalized their profits and for some reason, a company wants to make money.
Why do you hate capitalism?
The problem is that if anyone deviates, the consumer will blame Apple. Yes, we know it's the OEM's fault, but that doesn't matter, the consumer will blame Apple. I know this because a lot of applications wouldn't work correctly with Windows, and consumers would blame Microsoft. The power of blame was so much that Microsoft coded workarounds to the application errors into Windows -- the release of NT code a few years ago was full of such hacks. Users didn't want to hear that their applcation vendor screwed up because in their minds "Windows isn't working." Remember, this is the same crowd that thinks "Explorer" is the Internet and "Outlook" is email (I've tried to explain the concept of other email clients before, not pretty). The dumber they are, the louder they scream.
Given that perception is as good as reality, Apple's public image would suffer for something entirely the fault of other companies. Apple would lose prestige and marketshare just to sell some extra copies of the OS, not worth it.