Apple consistently likes to take discreet shots at its competitor, Microsoft. Whether it’s about viruses or system crashes, Apple tries to incorporate the stereotypical Windows machine into their products and websites. Here’s the latest.

The Blue Screen of Death is one of the most awful screens to reach when operating Windows computer. It means, you’ve just crashed and there’s no way of getting back. When I was recently bored and passing the time, I looked at a connected computer, or “Shared” computer. The computer was hooked on to my network and was a Windows PC. Clicking on the shared computer brought up a folder entitled “C.” Curious, I clicked “Get Info” for the drive. Under “Preview” was a bulky CRT Monitor showing the “Blue Screen of Death.”

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The 39.8 MB update to 10.5.1 is the first update to Apple’s recently released Leopard. “The 10.5.1 Update is recommended for all users running Mac OS X Leopard and includes general operating system fixes that enhance the stability, compatibility and security of your Mac.” A restart is required.

Steve Jobs and his creative team in Apple always dazzle us with their innovations. Mac revolutionized the computing world and from then on they never looked back. Apple impressed us with their hardware and with Tiger they literally went in for the kill. Back then, it’s not surprising to meet Mac fans getting loans just to purchase the latest Apple hardware.

The highly anticipated and well-selling Leopard operating system has been getting some fabulous reviews from the professionals, but will the regular user really notice the difference?

We’re Mac fanboys here, and we’d like to think that everything Apple produces is the best. Unfortunately, Apple’s newest operating system doesn’t live up to its hype. Across the Apple/Mac rumors and new websites, Mac OS X Leopard has been getting fabulous reviews. Many have highlighted the new Spaces and Time Machine features, but here’s what we found.

The installation took a bit longer than one and a half hours. The upgrade makes a disc check that takes about 45 minutes (thankfully it’s optional). Then, a long process of installation begins. A calculating time feature doesn’t even show the estimated time until about one hour. After a stop and start installation, the installer says that the upgrade is complete.

The computer then restarts into the new Leopard operating system. A slow initial startup begins. Afterwards, the installation process is complete. After the install, you may want to do a “Software Update…” under the Apple icon. We found about 16 to 17 MBs of new updates after the installation of Leopard.

For most Mac users, the bottom bar of icons holds every application that they’ll ever use. There are noticeable changes in the design of the desktop, a translucent top bar and a 3D reflective bottom bar. Both changes are minimal and are neither positive or negative. iCal is cleaner and operates slightly quicker, but isn’t any major upgrade. Apple Mail gives users templates for creative e-mail design that is a practical feature. iChat allows for greater compatibility with chat applications and now incorporates Google Talk accounts. The Finder is interesting, as the upgrade makes the finder more like cover flow in iTunes.

One of the most functional and pleasant upgrades was the upgrade to iTunes. Now, when files are dragged onto an external music player, like an iPod Shuffle, users can operate iTunes without waiting for a short freeze in the program. This change not only saves time, but doesn’t result in the annoying hassles like before.

Time Machine’s features are quite revolutionary, allowing the user to backup files and literally go back in time to when certain files were deleted or added. In order to backup the entire computer’s file systems requires ample hard drive space or a well-sized external drive.

Unfortunately, the operating system’s new Spaces program is a semi-pointless feature. The different “Spaces” are really only a way to “hide” (Apple Command + ‘h’) programs. The new visual spots assign different Spaces for programs and as you switch between different programs, the computer switches to different desktops. All in all, it’s interesting, but by no means a necessary part of Leopard.

Leopard is definitely an interesting upgrade, but hardly worth the $129 it costs to upgrade. As stated before, most users will find the upgrades fun and interesting, but hardly necessary or time-saving.

Since last Friday’s release of Leopard, Apple’s new operating system, the company has sold over two million copies. The new number far outweighs Apple’s previous record for Tiger’s weekend sales.

Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO, was quoted as saying, “Early indications are that Leopard will be a huge hit with customers. Leopard’s innovative features are getting great reviews and making more people than ever think about switching to the Mac.”

It’s been one of the longest periods without a Mac OS update, but this latest version has been worth the wait. Hundreds waited in line across the country to get their hands on Leopard and possible get one of the 500 free T-Shirts per store.

Much of the anticipation for an exceptional product was created over the last week as reviewers began to get their copies. Walt Mossberg had an incredibly optimistic review that pointed to Leopard as being an “evolutionary” upgrade.

With Apple’s (AAPL) renewed consumer enthusiasm, it appears as though almost any product that has a special release date has long lines and happy customers. Very much unique to Apple products, consumers will wait hours and hours to get their hands on the first copies. With the company’s market share growing rapidly and this incredible cult of Mac fans, Apple has finally received the appreciation it deserves.

A review of the Mac OS X Leopard will be on MarketMatador.com within the next week.

When it comes to search, there’s nothing better than Google’s. It’s the easiest, most reliable, and least cluttered search on the internet. Google has now taken another step towards highly specific searches, a special Mac search and download page.

While the Mac platform is still dwarfed by the sheer market share of the Windows platform, it’s nice to see these platform specific searches. Google has configured their search algorithm to only search for Mac specific items. Just go to http://www.google.com/mac to search for yourself. Along with the configured search, Google has all of its programs for Macs on the one page.

Today, Apple (AAPL) announced the official release date of Mac OS X Leopard. Unsurprisingly, the new operating system will make its debut on October 26th at 6:00 p.m.

The rumors have been spot on this time around. Down to the very hour of the release, almost all of the Apple/Mac rumor sites pinpointed the release to the 26th of October. Even more astonishing was AppleInsider’s recent informant that suggested that the official announcement would come today.

Leopard will have more than 300 new features and offer the bundle in a single-price platform. The single-user version will be $129 and the family version will be $199. Visit the new Mac OS X page.

Close followers of Apple’s Online Store may have just found the latest sign of an October 26th release of Leopard. The store is now delaying the shipping of Tiger (OSX 10.4) until October 26th. Coincidence? We think not.

For weeks now, rumor sites, including MarketMatador.com, have been hinting at an October 26th release of Leopard. Only two weeks from the supposed release, the Apple Store has decided to delay the shipment of OS X Tiger until October 26th.

Update: Within minutes of the story getting out, the Apple Store changed it back to: “Ships Within 24 hours.”