The now traditional face-off between Microsoft and Apple has moved past the stage of a simple operating system measuring contest. While Microsoft is essentially a software company, and Apple a hardware manufacturer, the Windows and Mac OS X platforms can indeed be compared, despite coming from different backgrounds, but at the same time, Widows vs. Mac OS X has transitioned into PC vs. Mac where Apple has gone head to head with worldwide heavyweight computer manufacturers including HP, Dell, Lenovo, Acer, etc.

According to the latest statistics from IDC and Apple, the volume of Mac computer sales has been constantly increasing throughout the past year. Taking in consideration the figures for just the first three quarters of 2007, and not the last when Apple dropped Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, IDC estimates the Cupertino-based hardware company's market share of the personal computer market at no less than 3.2%. The 3.2% share puts Apple on the same level as Fujitsu, and behind Toshiba (4.3%); Acer (7.8%); Lenovo (8.0%), Dell (14.7%) and HP with 19%.

At the end of 2004, Apple was shipping approximately 1 million machines per month worldwide. This number grew to over 1.5 million in 2006 and to over 2.1 million in the third quarter of 2007, just ahead of Leopard's release. The jump comes in the context of the freshly available Windows Vista operating system from Microsoft. Traditionally, Windows has influenced the PC market, boosting the sales of new machines.

In mid 2007, market analyst company Gartner pointed the finger at Windows Vista for slow global PC sales, saying that Microsoft had failed to produce a killer application to drive the sales of new computers. Gartner forecasted that computer sales would stop short of 160 million units the past year. Still, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, during his 2008 International CES keynote address, applauded string PC sales. The Redmond company's Client business (Windows) relies heavily on the success of original equipment manufacturers, as OEMs produce over 80% of its annual revenue.

"A key building block certainly for Microsoft is the Windows platform. We'll evolve that and use it as really the centerpiece building block. This actually was an incredible year for PCs. PC sales grew over 13 percent. Of course, that's a really gigantic base, and it's been amazing to see that. Next year, again, the prediction is for double-digit growth. A year ago, we launched Vista. I'm pleased to say that we've got over 100 million people using Vista now, and that's a very significant milestone for the kind of applications development, and special hardware work that we think is very important," Gates stated.

Data made available by Net Applications credits Mac OS X with a a share of 7.31% of the operating system market with Windows at 91.79%. Out of this, Windows Vista accounts for 10.48% while Mac OS has 3.28% and Mac Intel 76.91%. The figures released by Net Applications are illustrative of the operating system market at the end of December 2007.