Comparing any Mac OS release with Windows is often like comparing aphids and orangutans. That is particularly true when looking at Apple Inc.'s Mac OS X Leopard Server and Microsoft Corp.'s Windows 2003 Server. Although they ultimately provide very similar features -- directory services, file and print services, various Internet services, and so forth -- the two platforms seem to be designed from completely different mind-sets.

An excellent example of this is the two companies' vastly different approaches to software licensing. Windows Server is available in around half a dozen different variations, each with different pricing and feature sets aimed at specific environments. By contrast, there is only a single version of Mac OS X Server that makes all features available to anyone who buys it.

Also, Mac OS X Server comes with only two license variations, a 10-client version and an unlimited client version. Leopard Server doesn't add the complication (or expense) of client access licensing. This is when administrators must buy licenses for each user or device that connects to the server, as well as a license to install and run the server operating system itself. Windows requires client access licensing.

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Windows OS, Leopard, Mac OS X 10.5, Apple, Microsoft, Operating System, OS