Snow Leopard may ship early
It is beginning to look like the wait is nearly over. There are indications that Apple will begin delivery of OS X 10.6, popularly known as Snow Leopard, ahead of schedule and maybe within two weeks.
All of the Apple-watchers seem to have an eye on the Snow Leopard process, and many of those observers are reporting that Snow Leopard has achieved what Apple calls Gold Master status, meaning that the new operating system version is ready to ship, according to a PCWorld article. Until the last day or so, the new operating system version had been thought to be on track for the date announced at the most recent Apple developer’s conference, which was “sometime in September.”
The release process is, of course, still on the ramp that leads up to shipping. Even though the product is locked down, there are always final bits to attend to before a new product can ship. Interested insiders at Apple will want to have a final look, of course, and there are probably a number of major developers outside the company that will also get a chance to look at the new OS version. And, as odd as it may seem when most software deliveries are done via download, Snow Leopard will still need to go to manufacturing at Apple (or their fulfillment contractor) so that it can be burned onto discs for standard shipment.
Perhaps the first sign that the new system was nearing completion was the announcement a couple of weeks ago that Amazon was taking pre-orders for Snow Leopard. That announcement resulted in OS X 10.6 moving quickly to the top of the Amazon software sales charts, where is still remains. All new Apple software is eagerly awaited, and Snow Leopard is certainly no exception. The line will be long on the release date, and users may be well advised to wait for a day or to to avoid getting caught up in the feeding frenzy that surrounds any Apple new product release.
Of course, for the less excitable among us, it is always wise not to be too early an adopter. Major version upgrades of all kinds have been known to cause problems, and that is especially true of operating systems. This writer, for one, will wait until a large number of users have upgraded to Snow Leopard without difficulty before he starts his own upgrade process.
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