Speculating on Leopard's ship date

johnbaxterlistsmac.com said:

>Adam wrote, concerning software, in TidBITS 862
><http://db.tidbits.com/article/8814>:
>
>> As to when we can expect Leopard, and potentially updates to iLife
>> and iWork as well, I'm guessing late April or early May of 2007.
>
>I think we now have a lower bound on the release date: Ars Technica's
>Jacqui Cheng reports
>><http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2007/1/15/6636 that 8 models
>achieve "vintage" status or move from "vintage" to "obsolete" on March 13.

Microsoft's consumer version of Vista will be released to much fanfare on
January 30. I was kinda hoping that Apple would relase Leopard a couple
of days before that to make Vista's new features look silly.


Randy B. Singer

Co-Author of:
The Macintosh Bible (4th, 5th and 6th editions)

OS X Routine Maintenance
http://www.macattorney.com/ts.html

On 17/1/2007 4:11 AM, "johnbaxterlistsmac.com" <johnbaxterlistsmac.com>
spake thus:

> I think we now have a lower bound on the release date:

I see that the just-released DashCode beta expires on July 15, although this
is probably not that significant given that it's simply six months after the
release date of the beta. I doubt that it represents an upper bound for
Leopard :)

<http://developer.apple.com/tools/dashcode/index.html>

--
Nigel Stanger, Dunedin, NEW ZEALAND.
http://xri.net/=nigel.stanger

> Microsoft's consumer version of Vista will be released to much fanfare on
> January 30. I was kinda hoping that Apple would relase Leopard a couple
> of days before that to make Vista's new features look silly.

Microsoft will make sure their splash swamps anything else in the tech
press about that time. And much of the non-tech press. Apple is better
off waiting for them to go first and at least know the target. I expect
we'll see quite a few of those "I'm a Mac..." ads once the features of
Vista ship and present a defined target.

On 18 Jan 2007, at 13:31, David Ross wrote:

>> Microsoft's consumer version of Vista will be released to much
>> fanfare on
>> January 30. I was kinda hoping that Apple would relase Leopard a
>> couple
>> of days before that to make Vista's new features look silly.

That's odd - I'm in Germany at the moment, and I can buy Windows
Vista home and business editions as of today. Go to http://www.zeg-
shop.de to see for yourself (ab 18.01 means from January 18). Maybe
there's a delay while they translate it into English?

Kindest regards,
Niall O Broin

On Jan 18, 2007, at 6:31 AM, David Ross wrote:

>> Microsoft's consumer version of Vista will be released to much
>> fanfare on
>> January 30. I was kinda hoping that Apple would relase Leopard a
>> couple
>> of days before that to make Vista's new features look silly.
>
> Microsoft will make sure their splash swamps anything else in the tech
> press about that time. And much of the non-tech press. Apple is better
> off waiting for them to go first and at least know the target.

Also I think it would be a mistake to release Leopard prematurely with
tons of bugs. If I remember right, Tiger suffered a bit from that
until 10.4.4.

On Jan 17, 2007, at 10:17 PM, Nigel Stanger wrote:
> I see that the just-released DashCode beta expires on July 15,
> although this
> is probably not that significant given that it's simply six months
> after the
> release date of the beta. I doubt that it represents an upper bound
> for
> Leopard :)
>
> <http://developer.apple.com/tools/dashcode/index.html>

And the first couple of BootCamp licenses expired in Sep 2006--but I
never took that as indicating Leopard time.

   --John

On Jan 17, 2007, at 8:01 AM, Randy B. Singer wrote:

> Microsoft's consumer version of Vista will be released to much
> fanfare on January 30. I was kinda hoping that Apple would relase Leopard a
> couple of days before that to make Vista's new features look silly.

Having already played with Vista, and using Windows variants daily
for 2+ decades I think Apple can use existing OSes to compare
favorably in many respects. The point Apple has been stressing is
that Microsoft is the one working to keep up, not Apple working hard
to stay ahead.

Besides, Apple isn't really after OS sales as much as hardware sales,
and if Intel Macs are able to boot and run Vista, then great. Apple
can simply mention that if a user really wants to compare Vista to
Mac OS, then buy a Mac and run both. I think Apple is still mostly
justified in thinking that if users, by and large, were to use both
OSes, they would pick the Mac OS over Windows in overwhelming
numbers. I don't think Apple is smug; and I do believe the engineers
at Apple recognize some of the aspects of XP/Vista that compete
favorably with the Mac OS UI experience.

I would rather Apple continue to launch major operating system
upgrades when they are rock solid and ready to go, and not the way
Microsoft has done in the past, cutting features and scrambling the
last 12 months to finally get it packaged and ready to go; where you
really needed to wait on SP1 to get the system fully functioning, and
SP2 to get it fully baked. Based on recent quarterly performance
numbers, I think Apple should make sure their products are really
well done, fully baked, unlike the iWeb 1.0 experience that felt more
like 0.5beta.

Jeffrey

Jeffrey McPheeters wrote:
> I would rather Apple continue to launch major operating system
> upgrades when they are rock solid and ready to go, and not the way
> Microsoft has done in the past, cutting features and scrambling the
> last 12 months to finally get it packaged and ready to go; where you
> really needed to wait on SP1 to get the system fully functioning, and
> SP2 to get it fully baked. Based on recent quarterly performance
> numbers, I think Apple should make sure their products are really
> well done, fully baked, unlike the iWeb 1.0 experience that felt more
> like 0.5beta.
>
Uh, do you remember 10.4.0, .1, .2, .3, or .4? And a similar path with
10.3.x

Having only a 5% market share has it's benefits in terms of a lack of
bad press at times. :)

On 20/1/2007 6:40 AM, "Niall O Broin" <niallmakalumedia.com> spake thus:

> That's odd - I'm in Germany at the moment, and I can buy Windows
> Vista home and business editions as of today.

I suspect that's just pre-ordering. Amazon have had Vista listed since Dec
10 last year:

<http://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-Windows-Vista-Premium-VERSION/dp/B000HCZ9AW
/sr=1-5/qid=1169410545/ref=sr_1_5/102-7580421-6077715>

--
Nigel Stanger, Dunedin, NEW ZEALAND.
http://xri.net/=nigel.stanger

When I asked Apple people about this at Expo I was told"Spring." When I asked whether Spring in Alabama or Spring in Nova Scotia I didn't get an answer. I suspect May or June. RWH

On Jan 22, 2007, at 1:20 AM, David Ross wrote:

> Having only a 5% market share has it's benefits in terms of a lack of
> bad press at times. :)

Market share has nothing to do with it. Recent history should prove
that. Apple gets more negative press from Windows viruses than
Microsoft does. The press is obsessed with Apple. Even when Vista
gets in the news, it often carries with it analysis comparing it with
Apple's OS. When Leopard debuts, every little problem will be over-
scrutinized and even if 999 out of 1000 installations go smoothly,
the 1 in a thousand will generate all the discussion.

Microsoft talks security over features, but rarely provides that in
reality. Apple talks features more than security, but generally
provides a good, secure computer. It could be more secure. It could
be more stable.

Whenever Leopard debuts, I will likely be waiting at least 60 days to
order a copy.

Jeffrey

>Posted by: Robert Huntington Date: Jan 23, 2007.
>
>When I asked Apple people about this at Expo I was told"Spring."
>When I asked whether Spring in Alabama or Spring in Nova Scotia I
>didn't get an answer. I suspect May or June. RWH

Just so long as it's not spring in Sydney! (September).

--

David Stonestreet

On 1/23/07 11:51 AM, "Robert Huntington" <rwhuntinwisc.edu> wrote:

> When I asked Apple people about this at Expo I was told"Spring."

And anyone who said anything was just blowing smoke. *No one* on the show
floor knows when it's going to be released.

Matter of fact, that's a good test of the person you're talking to. Ask them
that and if they say anything other than, "I have no idea", they are full of
hot air and are just trying to impress you. :)
--
Shawn King
Host/Executive Producer
Your Mac Life
http://www.yourmaclife.com

On 1/25/07 12:20, "Shawn King" <shawnyourmaclife.com> wrote:

>> When I asked Apple people about this at Expo I was told"Spring."
>
> And anyone who said anything was just blowing smoke. *No one* on the show
> floor knows when it's going to be released.

Well, that's what Steve said last. Spring 2007. Anything beyond "Spring" is
indeed speculation.

--
John C. Welch Writer/Analyst
Bynkii.com Mac and other opinions
jwelchbynkii.com

On Jan 25, 2007, at 10:20 AM, Shawn King wrote:

> On 1/23/07 11:51 AM, "Robert Huntington" <rwhuntinwisc.edu> wrote:
>
>> When I asked Apple people about this at Expo I was told"Spring."
>
> And anyone who said anything was just blowing smoke. *No one* on
> the show
> floor knows when it's going to be released.

On the other hand, Apple's web site still says spring. So any Apple
person who says spring is covered.

   --John (some seasons last longer than others)