We don’t know the final release date of the final version of Mac OS X Tiger, but “the likelihood is quite high [that it was March 13, 2007] given Apple’s Mac OS X release history as charted here and no prior Mac OS X update has had a version number higher than 10.x.9. It’s easy to observe that the last update to a current Mac OS X version has been released prior to the release of a new version. Also [we] observe that the gap between the last revision of a current and new operating system has shrunk for the past three Mac OS X releases. If Leopard were to follow the same number of days between Panther and Tiger then Leopard would be released on March 27, 14 days after Tiger 10.4.9. I don’t have any confidence in such an early release date,” Switch To A Mac writes.
STAM analyzes much history and evidence and concludes the best guess release date for The OS That Will Replace Mac OS X Tiger as the World’s Most Advanced Operating System” will be on Friday, May 11, 2007.
Evidence, rationale and much more here.
New Macs are overdue. I say a couple of weeks…
Meh, I’ll wait for Apple to tell me themselves…
That makes perfect sense because May 11th, 2000 was the last performance of the musical Cats in London’s West End. And so, seven years later Leopard emerges triumphant.
I like lamp.
Based on the information we have, the only thing we can predict with any certainty is that it will be released at some point after today.
Was anyone else at the Apple PowerPC launch at Chicago’s Orchestra Hall on March 14, 1994?
As I recall, a local bagpipe band performed at the end.
Your potential. Our passion.
Stupid. It’ll be here sometime between now and June 20th. Apple themselves said so.
I predict that it will ship when his Steveness says so.
I’ll just wait for the real release date and leave it at that. You can guess all you want but that won’t ever make it true.
Sheer stupidity. The LAST day Apple would make announcement would be a Friday. Anyone in PR knows that Fridays are when news releases go to die – you post news on Fridays when you don’t want the world to notice.
I predict that Apple will release 10.5 when it’s damn good and ready. I’d rather wait for it to be right that rushed like that abortion pushed out by another company I refuse to mention.
You railbirds are like a bunch of kids crowded around the oven impatiently waiting for the cookies to finish baking. Yeah, I know. I can smell the cookies too. But as any good mom would tell you, be patient. Good things take time.
At least it’ll be better than the performance by the crickets for Vista’s launch back in January…
Without checking the record … hasn’t Apple been prone to releasing new hardware (with current OS installed) just BEFORE a new OS launch? It would fit well with their pattern of getting early adopters to pay as often as possible.
If so, I would expect new hardware first, and then Leopard after the dust settles.
Oh, oh, my crystal ball tells me… $%*@ the crystal ball. I find all those divinations funny. People saying that according to the trend, mathematical equations etc. Leopard will be released on something, something. We don’t even have spring yet. Leopard will be released sometime between March 20 and June 21 and maybe later if something goes wrong.
I know how anxious people you are, I am myself waiting for Leopard to switch but cool down.
If you wake up every morning with the thought that the new OS and/or the new Macs will release today, eventually you’ll be right.
If only this worked for Powerball….
All this speculation reminds me of the Simpsons episode where there are all these mysterious ads for GABBO and homer is staring at GABBO IS COMING in the newspaper and holding at different angles to try and figure out what it is. Lisa comments that she doesn’t think he has enough to go on.
Apple
too
slow,
too
slow
Potatohead is right…
Apple releases things on TUESDAYS.
Why, O, WHY do I bother reading these “articles”?
A new species: Clouded Leopard has been reported yesterday: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6452555.stm?ls
Another new Leopard is clouded, but will soon be revealed. My guess is 10th May, not 11th: 10/5 (getit?)
I think that it will be launched at the WWDC in June. Perfect venue.
MDN MW: DECISION: In the end it’s Steve’s decision.
I predict it will ship when it’s not yet completely finished and properly tested. Just look at Aperture or the recent reports of the OS X bug count graph. Apple, debug before shipping! This applies to itunes too.
I am announcing Leopard today!
Leopard!
There, it’s been announced. Someone else may announce Leopard at a later date, but it won’t be as important as my announcement.
@Potatohead
The last three releases of OS X have all been on a Friday. Why would Apple change now?
Leopard will be released on Friday May 25, 2007
You know…I am pretty sure that Apple just randomly chooses dates to release their stuff. You people ammuse me…trying to find scientific reasoning as to the date of an OS drop. Like John Nash trying to find pigeon algorithims or some english professor trying to find literary merit in a drunken rambling…when there really isnt any…..
He forgot to account for the “secret” features. When do those show up? Will the be pre-announced with a release and then added to developer builds for testing? Are they already undergoing some secret testing? These extra features make the whole picture much more cloudy.
@ potatohead and Reee –
OS X releases have been on FRIDAYS!!
It wont be now that it’s been predicted!
Twaddle.
My Birthday and just before Mothers Day…Sweet…
Facts:
1) To be released Spring 2007
2) iPhone release in June
3) WWDC
Many of the top secret features are around the iPhone, iWork, and iLife. Therefore, it all has to come down together with the iPhone launch. If iPhone tracks for an early release, you can bet your behind that Leopard will as well.
iPhone will have Pages/Keynote integration and allow for TV Out hookup for presentations. iPhone will have iChat VOIP. iPhone will be able to generate iWeb pages and push to .Mac. Oh yeah, it will have full .Mac syncing of contacts, mail, calendar, etc..
The secret feature is a fully functioning Time Machine which means Leopard was released three weeks and you just haven’t realized it yet.
And I’m going to shoot that expanding Dodge ad next to the comments box.
Flash rule #1:
Just because you can DOES NOT mean you should.
The question i ask is : Does ANY other company EVER have this much news on when it is expected to release a product???
the answer is : Not a chance.
go apple
Maybe Steve just forgot about it…
like, he might wake up in the middle of the night going “oh, shit!”
“hasn’t Apple been prone to releasing new hardware (with current OS installed) just BEFORE a new OS launch? It would fit well with their pattern of getting early adopters to pay as often as possible.”
Somewhat true, but I believe they give the people who bought the hardware a voucher for the new OS, so they don’t make the extra off of them.
My guess is that the next OS will be released somewhere around their NAB event. Wouldn’t it be a huge announcement for them to put out new hardware, new OS and new media software all at the same time? Perhaps NAB isn’t the best time to release an OS, but somewhere around the same time.
Each new OS was released the day after my wife agreed to having sex. Oh man….guess we are in for a wait.
I think Apple finds its employees laughing internally at how many people think they are going to rush Leopard out the door. Anyone who thinks it is going to be anytime soon is way off the mark. The OS is far from finished. There are memory leaks, incomplete features, and several stability issues. Of all companies to recognize the importance of making sure Leopard is a worthy competitor to Vista, it would have to be Apple. They have a lot riding on the line now, after the many taunts and jabs for how long it took Vista to get released. I think Apple would be wise to make sure Leopard is the best release of OSX ever released. Not only with regards to stability but also performance. I also think that if Apple is going to need to take extra time to do this, that they use their time wisely and prove to Microsoft what they should have been doing in that five year span that we constantly saw amateurs dropping the ball again and again. I’d say, have patience, have faith, and hopefully if Apple sticks with the qualities and passion that makes it Apple, we will with any luck see the best release of OSX ever. But if it boiled down to a rushed out the door half-baked OS, or a solid, stable, fast, smooth, sleek, and polished version of OSX, I would prefer waiting and reaping the benefits of them going the extra mile to make it that much better. A release date really doesn’t mean much if the product isn’t ready for release. Anyway, that is just my 2 cents.
Buster: I noticed you didn’t specify sex with whom.
Interesting.
; – )
@No Squirt For You
Hey you are right. I have an idea on how we cen get Leopard released next week…anyone have Mel Gibson’s phone number?
Buster-
‘anyone have Mel Gibson’s phone number?’
for you ot the missus?
or
@Mark, I’m waiting to go Mac-only (PowerBook G4 and homebrew XP desktop at home) once 10.5 is released, too. I’ll drop my order for a 24″ iMac as soon as they put Leopard on there.
@TT
Kate Walsh is more my style
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I have sex…
New hardware March 27th coinciding with CS3.
“Evidence, rationale and much more here.”
What more than a single bit of incontrovertible evidence is required to know the actual release date of 10.5?
What manner of analytical thought is needed to understand a simple fact?
What more meticulous cogitation and rigorous review is necessary to comprehend an obvious truth?
After all the evidence, rationale, and more that MDN can muster MDN offers its readers a “best guess” (i.e. finest finagling, supreme speculation, crafted conjecture, peerless postulating, reckless rumoring). It appears that someone’s been sipping from the same cup as Eran the Idiot. I suppose there’s a chance that 10.5 will be release 11 May, but if MDN is wrong they have demonstrated unequivocally what fools they really are.
Maybe MDN and Eran consulted the oracle? Yeah, the oracle. Can’t beat an oracle, you know.
Sex is fantastic. And with a partner it might even be better.
Now spank my Mac and call me Judy.
Mr. Potatohead says:
“Sheer stupidity. The LAST day Apple would make announcement would be a Friday. Anyone in PR knows that Fridays are when news releases go to die – you post news on Fridays when you don’t want the world to notice.
I predict that Apple will release 10.5 when it’s damn good and ready. I’d rather wait for it to be right that rushed like that abortion pushed out by another company I refuse to mention.”
Wel…there’s a big difference between an announcement date and a release date. Tiger was actually released and made available for take-away sale on April 29, 2005 — a FRIDAY. I remember it well. It was my birthday.
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Bug fixes are not subject to historical trends. And what is this adversion to thinking there can’t be a version 10.4.10 of Tiger. It’s just a version tracking system; that’s why those dots are there.
Good God don’t we have something better to do than to read these dumbass articles and the comments that follow?
™
Yes, or at least I do. That is why I don’t read them OR respond to them.
TT: Funny! BTW, I think I can touch the tip of your nose from here.
‘I think I can touch the tip of your nose from here.’
?
I’m just here to stare at the Sexy Single blonde in her panties. It makes all of this crap worthwhile. I don’t have a life.
Pinocchio, TT. Sheesh.
uh, yeah, I knew that….
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all this waiting is making me angry
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I wish they had a real release date, or even month, so that I know how long I have to go before the BIG switch.
Anybody notice how for the UK/US apple sites it says leopard is coming Spring 2007, while for the AU site it says mid-2007? Any way we can factor this into the big complicated equations that are really just people pulling dates out of their behind?
Interesting article on who’s most interested in when the release happens:
http://buzzdroid.com/apple/mac-os-x/windows-users-more-interested-in-os-x-leopard-than-mac-users/