Formatting external HDD for both OSX Lion and Windows 7

Heys guys,
Tomorrow I will have my first Apple computer delivered after using Windows for many years. What my question is, is that what would I need to format my Western Digital Elements external HDD to in order for me to use it on both my iMac and Windows computers.
Now at Uni I have access to both Microsoft based and Apple based computers but in this first semester we will be using the Microsoft more than the Macs. I want to be able to open and edit Microsoft word files, Adobe Suite files, and other files such as MP3 on both machines no matter where I am.
I have Google searched this but failed to find what I actually want.
In advance I thank you for your replies!

Assuming you'll be plugging it into all the computers directly, FAT32 or ExFAT.
If you'll be using it as a network share, any format writable by the computer it'll be connected directly to.
(60901)

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