My ques. is...... is there a program in the Windows platform that does what Shake(3.5) does for mac? and\or What is the closet program that performs like Shake?
There's still a Linux version available.
There is (was?) Digital Fusion.
Of course there are other compositing packages on Windows (After Effects, etc)
I think the closest would probably be Combustion--also a node-based compositing program that includes painting and a particle system. After Effects has some similar functions, but isn't node-based.
Combustion is layer based like AE, but pretends to be node based. The nearest programs to Shake on the PC are Nuke, Digital Fusion etc., but really, After Effects will do most of what you want anyway, or Combustion.