[shurcooL]

No, they're solving the exact same problem: to provide a good computing experience.

Now, how they go about solving that same problem is radically different. Windows and Linux tries to support as much hardware as possible and be general. OS X tries to limit scope to own MacBook hardware only, and benefit from the advantages of that approach as much as it can (clearly, it has some disadvantages it suffers from too).

I'm not sure it's easy to say which approach is more difficult overall. Linux and Windows approach is clearly much more difficult on the software side. However, OS X has to have is own hardware made by the same company. If Apple falls behind in hardware, OS X is screwed. So there's a lot more importance and difficulty in making sure the hardware is great (if a Dell makes bad hardware, Linux and Windows can be okay as long as any other hardware company makes something good).

[m0skit0]

Actually Apple doesn't make the hardware anymore, it relies on external companies to do so.

[sbuk]

Much like most of the other hardware manufacturers out there.