Mac-driven mouths are becoming vocal on the absence of Snow Leopard at Apple's last Macworld keynote address. While some believe Apple committed a huge mistake by not even hinting at a release date, others are pretty sure the Windows 7 release closing in could have only harmed Apple's new “cat” on the block.

Joe Wilcox, of Apple Watch, writes that “Apple has made a strategic error by not getting in front of Microsoft, which is ramping up anti-Mac marketing and building some excitement about Windows 7.” He goes on to explain that “Apple and Microsoft are vying for the same customers: Windows XP PC users who haven't moved to Vista. Fewer of the customers will choose to buy Macs during the economic downturn,” he continues. “Meanwhile, Microsoft may have in Windows 7 an attractive alternative to Vista computers and to Macs."

OK, that's one opinion. So says an analysis over at Osnews. The source claims it makes perfect sense for Apple not to show off Snow Leopard at this moment. The argument: “First of all, Windows 7 is about to explode all over the media. There's no way that Apple will be able to conquer the media headlines with Snow Leopard with Microsoft officially launching the first Windows 7 beta this week. In addition, it's CES time right now, and Microsoft is sure to show off Windows 7 in Vegas. Apple might be the darling of the media, but there's only so much that will help in the coming waterfall of Windows 7 media attention,” the post reads.

The author trusts Apple to launch Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard when the Windows 7 hype diminishes, “or when Microsoft messes something up.” According to the analysis, “It makes no sense to taut Snow Leopard right now.”

How would you put it? Did Apple do itself a whole lot of good by holding off on Snow Leopard? How about the possibility of not finishing the software in time for the Macworld keynote?