I recently bought at snow. I must say that the TI stuff and its small size are the main reasons I got it over a C (I had an Indigo 2 Redback once and missed the virus sound).
I was at some point, in the decision process, worried that the lack of knobs would be a problem. It isn't... Dedicated filter cut and res knobs and 3 "soft" knobs you can dedicate to which ever parameter you want. You don't really need anything else when playing live.
And I guess this it mainly what it comes down to in the various discussions on the snow vs. other vira: Purpose.
If I wouldn't ever take my virus anywhere but my 'studio' (in quotes because it has been degraded quite a bit since my daughter invaded my playroom
), I would definately go for at desktop virus (most likely TI) or an Indigo/Pølar (though the Pølar is too expensive for me
). But for gig'ing the Snow is awesome because of its size (and the fact that it can be used as a soundcard is also nice, less stuff to carry).
I don't get the bashing of the TI stuff... it hasn't crashed for me yet. And if it does, chances are that it may be caused by something else than the actual Virus software... If you look at bug reports for the TI software, also please notice the version... I believe that access has fixed most bugs found in the initial releases. That's just how most public software releases are since no matter how hard you test your software, there will be numerous people running strange programs and hardware that can interfere with your software.
Also I think SoundDiver for the Virus C is much more buggy than TI software
Did I mention that the interface of the TI software is actually much easier to work with than the hardware interface? You have everything available with a click of a mouse and not through scrolling through menues.
I have not regret that I got a Snow over a C... also concidering that the C being discontinued, the chance that new features will be available is close to zero compared to the TI.