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Apple hopes new productivity enhancements and security tools will push Mac OS X deeper into the business computing world, where it’s largely been shut out by Microsoft.

In its most aggressive challenge to date to Microsoft’s dominance of the desktop computing market, Apple confirmed Tuesday that it plans to launch its highly anticipated OSX Leopard operating system on October 26th.

Apple is confident that the slick new interface that Leopard brings to its PCs and laptops will steal thunder from Microsoft’s Windows Vista operating system, which launched earlier this year amid considerable hype.

Like Windows Vista, Leopard relies heavily on graphical enhancements to redefine the way users interact with their computers. A feature called Stacks arranges all the files in a folder into an appealing fan shape when the folder is clicked on. The feature counters Vista’s Flip 3D interface, which sorts files and windows into a cascading, three-dimensional view.

Leopard also borrows heavily from Apple’s successful iPod interface. An enhanced Finder tool lets users leaf through icons representing their files the same way they can flip through music tracks on the digital music player. Another new feature allows users to make desktop backgrounds out of their favorite digital images. . But Apple insists Leopard is more than just a pretty face. The computer maker is hopeful that new productivity enhancements and security tools built into the 64-bit OS will push it deeper into the business computing world, where Apple’s largely been shut out by Microsoft.

A feature called Time Machine works with an external hard drive to automatically create backups of users’ complete system image — including files and the data within. The system creates backups hourly, daily and weekly. For e-mail power users, Leopard Mail offers a range of professionally designed templates that can be employed to create business class correspondence. A Spotlight search tool lets users quickly troll through their in-boxes to find the messages most important to them.

Bowing to the preponderance of Windows applications in the workplace, Leopard also comes with a preinstalled version of Bootcamp — software that lets users run PC files on a Mac.

Leopard also features some industrial strength security enhancements. Its Disk Utility tool lets users create files protected by 128-bit or even 256-bit AES encryption. And Apple says its Sandbox technology ensures that applications access only the files they’re supposed to while allowing users to specify which apps can talk to the network.

While many of Leopard’s features are designed to help the OS go toe-to-toe with Windows Vista, its real competition may come not from Microsoft — but from the Web. A growing number of home and business users are beginning to reject so-called fat operating systems in favor of pared down systems — some based on Linux — whose main job is to let PCs access an increasingly rich array of computing tools available on the Internet from Google and other vendors.

It’s a trend that has dampened sales of Windows Vista, by some accounts. Apple’s Leopard, as feature rich as it is, will no doubt have to face the same market dynamics.

Indeed, Leopard is afflicted with the sort of steep system requirements that have pushed some Microsoft users to stick with Windows XP or seek non-Microsoft alternatives. At the very least, Leopard needs to run on a Mac with an 867-MHz PowerPC G4 chip. Leopard will also run on Intel-based Macs, but Apple hasn’t released minimum specs for the Intel variant.

Users will also need at least 512 Mbytes of memory on their computers and 9Gbytes of available disk space to run OS X Leopard.

Apple is currently taking preorders for the software. A single user upgrade pack is priced at $129.00, while a Family Pack good for five installations costs $199. Leopard will also ship pre-installed on the full range of high-end Macs.

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