Can Apple turn the tables on Microsoft?

Now that Windows Vista has been delayed, it's time to ask a once-unthinkable question: Can the Macintosh finally take back business from Microsoft?

For two decades, Apple has seen its computer market share steadily decline to its single digits of today. New products ranging from the iMac to the iPod have turned the company around, of course, but Apple's share of the computer market has still lagged far behind that of its Windows counterparts.

Today, however, may hold at least a glimmer of hope for those Mac faithful who have dared dream of a day when Apple could again reign supreme in the world of personal computing. And they are not shy to point out that Apple has released many new features and upgrades in the years that Microsoft has worked on an operating system that has yet to see the light of day. If nothing else, momentum certainly seems to be on Apple's side.

Blog community response:

"Great news for Apple now Leopard will be released months before Vista, and the new Intel Macs with Leopard will simply blow them all away!"
--Apple Matters

"I hardly expect to see Apple suddenly jump ahead and take the lead in market share, or even make huge improvements on that front. But if you take all the good news for Apple lately, compounded by the continually dismal news for Microsoft (think Firefox, lawsuits, and worm after worm after worm), and then throw in yet another delay for the successor to Windows XP (weren't we supposed to have it a long time ago), and the fact that Mac OS X 10.5 will quite likely be available first, you really have to wonder."
--IT: Interesting Tangents

"This could really put the chill on the PC industry, which has been counting on a Vista driven upgrade cycle. Of course, this is also a sign of a company which is fighting many wars (not battles) on many fronts, struggling to gain ground against rivals as diverse as Apple, Google, and Nokia"
--Om Malik's Blog