For over a decade Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) has been the leader of technological cool with its MacBooks iPods and iPhones preferred by the trendsetting creative class. In contrast Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) once the red-hot brand in the '90s was the stodgy competitor whose products were only highly valued in the enterprise world where utility trumped aesthetics.   However the Bill Gates-founded company might have gotten an image boost in the past year thanks in large part to its recent heavy advertising spending to promote its new Surface tablets.   According to a Reuters/Ipsos poll some 50% of 853 18- to 29-year-old ...