As you are reading this, I am sure you are aware that Windows 7 may be the closest Microsoft desktop operating system as pleasing, performance oriented and if you we can dare call it – as secure as Apple’s OS X.

What matters is the publicity gathered for the scene that the Leopard, Windows 7 being released closely.

Now let us have a close look at the features between Windows 7 and Snow Leopard.

Which Looks and Feels Better: Let’s face IT: You probably know that Microsoft has borrowed interface “ideas” from the Mac OS for years now. The buzz is that there is a fine tuning in the interface from the notorious Vista and Windows 7. Mac users expect they will not see major changes to the UI other than few features.

What is the Microsoft’s counter part to Snow Leopard’s OpenCL? It is DirectX 11. MS has tapped into the glassy, transparent look of OS X and DirectX 11 promises to deliver high quality 3-D graphics. Why people should love OpenCL? Because it offers a better way to divert the resource-intensive processes to the graphics processor rather than having them all handled by the CPU. Do you see how crucial this is for ultimate performance in gaming, 3-D modeling and any intensive application? It will be interesting to see which wins the votes of Developers who develop around these technologies.

Which Searches Better: Do you remember the search in Vista? Clicking on the Start button brings up a search bar, much like the same search fields you find in a browser. You can type a word or few letters of a word to search on and Windows Search will ferret out anything on your PC related to that search criteria. MS has built upon the same features.

Man, this time Windows 7 has come up with Libraries. What are libraries any way? They collect all documents for a related criteria and put them in one place. This makes the search very efficient and the dream of getting info in click of a button may be fulfilled.

Ok. What is the counterpart’s answer to this? Well, you know that Spotlight is OS X’s desktop search. Man, this time Spotlight not only searches for what’s on the system, but can search the Web through your bookmarks and through your browser history. If you are a fan of iTunes search, then find solace in search capabilities of Snow Leopard’s Spotlight feature.

Architecture War: Its better you put your hat off and read this carefully. Did you ever imagine you can have all the RAM you want for your PC? I didn’t. Windows 7 and Leopard seems to out turn all your expectations in this regard.

Ok. Both the OSes are 64 bit. With 64-bit, memory amounts can be increased and the system can deliver faster performance. Some 32 bit apps also can run well on these OSes.

Do you know Windows 7 UTIMATE can support upto 192 GB RAM? Go search for the latest hardware that allows you to use this much. But Windows 7 is ready to serve with 192 GB RAM. Yes you read it right.

It is not the end. The buzz is that Snow Leopard is ready to support a staggering 16 Tbytes of RAM — of course, there aren’t desktop systems out there with that type of memory potential, unless something is under covers.

Where You Can Navigate Better: It seems MS has given that touch screen touch to Windows 7. You can now “pin” any program to the taskbar. With a feature called Snaps, you can align windows side-by-side by grabbing them and pulling them to the edges of the screen. If you have multiple windows opened at once and want to minimize all but one, grab that one window, give it a shake and the other windows will minimize. Cool…aaaha??

I don’t know yet what are the cotemporary features in Snow Leopard. You can google on that.

Security Matters: Do you remember the itchy feeling about security in PCs? How many times did you curse Microsoft for the loop holes? Ok, MS has tightened up security in Windows 7 with features like Data Execution Prevention (DEP), Mandatory Integrity Levels and Kernel Patch Protection. Auditing has been beefed up, a good thing for organizations with compliancy requirements. Do you know that BitLocker has been improved upon, providing reinforced AES encryption?

However, there are other features embedded within the OS to aid in keeping this version of OS X the safe, stable OS heralded by Mac users. It’s just been recently confirmed that Snow Leopard comes with built-in antimalware protection.

Which ‘Networks’ Better: You know that Windows has always been the “business PC” and it doesn’t disappoint in the business-class editions of Windows 7 (the buzz). Features like offline domain-joining, BranchCache and DirectAccess all make the case for Windows 7 as a powerful system for businesses.

It seems like it takes time for Snow Leopard to be considered as a viable option for office. Of course, the big news about Snow Leopard for the business set is its native support for Exchange. But the catch is, it can use only Exchange Server 2007.

And the sickening thing is the majority of Exchange servers in business are still at Exchange 2003; however, there is an increasing exodus from Exchange 2003 to 2007 in the small-business sector. You have Finder to connect to the networked computers, if you are a home user.

Upgradibility and Pricing: Ok. We came to the apex of the comparison.

The price of $29 to upgrade to the latest Mac OS X is a pretty sweet deal for Mac users.

Users on the older version of OS X, Tiger, will have to cough up $169.99 to trade in the stripes for spots. Snow Leopard is only compatible on Intel-based Macs and users can do an in-place upgrade from Tiger or OS X 10.5.

As the world knows by now, an in-place upgrade from Vista is supported but not from XP. I am sure it pisses you off. The upgrade ranges from $119 for Home Premium to $219.99 for Ultimate. For the full version the range begins at $199.99 for Home Premium and $319.99 for Ultimate.

Note: These are the author’s opinions only and not the facts released by either Microsoft or Apple. For any technical or commercial information see the respective websites of the vendors. The author will not liable for what ever decisions you take based on this article.