The Mac's been on a roll, both due to its highly regarded Mac OS X Leopard operating system and to an unhappy reception for Microsoft's Windows Vista. The result: For the first time in memory, the Mac's market share has hit 9.1 percent, according to IDC data, and Windows' market share has dipped below 90 percent. (Linux distributions make up the rest.)

But can either Mac OS X or Linux be more than a niche OS? After all, Windows runs practically everything, from widely used productivity apps such as spreadsheets to highly niche applications such as chemical modeling. Mac OS X and Linux simply don't have the app base that Windows does. Of course, the fact you can run Windows on a Mac or Linux system, thanks to Parallels Desktop and EMC VMware Fusion, lets you have your cake and eat it too.

[ Find out the deployment secrets of Vista adopters and see how the beta Windows 7 performs | Follow InfoWorld's guides on switching to Mac OS X and switching to Linux. ]

For some users -- often technically savvy people such as engineers, consultants, designers, and CTOs -- it is clearly an option that already works quite well. In the past year, running Mac OS X or Linux as your default OS has been made easier by the capability to run Windows in a virtual machine, giving you access to both Windows-only applications and Web sites that rely on Microsoft's Internet Explorer-only ActiveX technology. But in a business environment, switching to a Mac or Linux PC may not be quite as easy.

The Windows option

Despite the increasing adoption of alternatives to Windows, the Microsoft OS remains the standard choice for the vast majority of businesses. After all, it's been their standard for nearly two decades; they know it, have become dependent on it, and understand its capabilities and limitations. Plus, it's backed by a company that puts a lot of resources into maintaining, supporting, and enhancing the OS for its very wide user base -- and has a huge third-party support system, from vendors to consultants.

For most businesses, considering something other than Windows is not even a question; their concern is when to shift to a new version of Windows. Still, as users (re)discover the Mac and questions over Windows' long-term resource requirements hang in the air, some are considering alternatives to, or at least supplements for, Windows in the form of Mac OS X and Linux.

The Mac OS X option

Of the plausible alternatives to Windows, Apple's Mac OS X has the largest market share and history. InfoWorld chief technologist Tom Yager has written that the latest version of the Mac OS, Leopard (10.5), is simply the best operating system available. And Macs are indeed popping up more frequently even within IT circles -- I've seen more MacBook Pros in the

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