In regards to the approach that Apple takes to typography and pixel rendering compared to the approach of Microsoft:
Apple generally believes that the goal of the algorithm should be to preserve the design of the typeface as much as possible, even at the cost of a little bit of blurriness.
Microsoft generally believes that the shape of each letter should be hammered into pixel boundaries to prevent blur and improve readability, even at the cost of not being true to the typeface.
It is interesting to me how philosophical approaches to design can make a difference in the minutiae of design details.
via Coding Horror