Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, OS, WWDC, Surveys and Polls, Leopard
The elephant in the room: Apple pulls a Microsoft, delays Leopard past original promise
The first bell that rung in my ear when Steve announced Mac OS X 10.5's ship date of Spring 2007 was: "Apple just pulled a Microsoft". I know, I know: those words might be nails on the chalkboard in your head, but it's true. Leopard was originally promised for Fall 2006, and now it's been bumped back to 2007.Now don't get me wrong, if they need the time to work on it and bang out all the new features (including those secret ones they couldn't even show today) then by all means the company should take their time. I'm simply interested in the ramifications, if any, of a delay like this.
Microsoft has received boatloads of criticism from every media outlet imaginable for continually delaying
I'm not trying to Pull a Dvorak™ and invent some crisis here or anything, but could some of these complications be making their way into the Apple side of the fence? Each new version of Mac OS X has brought incredible innovation with it (and these 10 new Leopard features are no exception), but also slightly more instability and 'growing pains' as well. Mail.app is widely harped on for a good number of reasons, namely instability and flakiness. GarageBand rocks, but only until you try to use the fancy podcast recording features. Even the cutting-edge new Spotlight is a great concept with a decent implementation, but it too suffers problems of inaccuracy, sluggish performance (even on recent machines like my MBP) and over-activity.
What do you TUAW readers think though? Is the new Leopard ship date cause for alarm? Do you think you'll pick up the 1.0 release, or wait for initial reports and the subsequent updates? Sound off!
[UPDATE: For clarification, many reports since the introduction of Leopard have changed their tune for a release of 'late 2006/early 2007', but plenty of them, at least around the original announcement, specified Fall 2006.]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)
Chris said 4:07PM on 8-07-2006
Where exactly did Apple commit to releasing Leopard in the fall of 2006? There's been a LOT of media speculation with regard to releasing Leopard during that timeframe, but to my knowledge, never any commitment from Apple.
Source, please.
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Joe Jacobs said 4:11PM on 8-07-2006
I'm pre-ordering it! Yup.
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Padriac said 4:12PM on 8-07-2006
My thoughts exactly... when did Apple commit to a release date? Sure, many were hoping it would come at before/same time as Vista, but I don't think Apple made such a claim.
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bophojones said 4:13PM on 8-07-2006
I'll buy it the day it's available. The extra time must be necessary, or they wouldn't take it. For example, look at the speed of the Nike iPod rollout, and only 210 days for full Intel implementation.... They'll release Leopard when they're ready to, and when it is ready.
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AS said 4:14PM on 8-07-2006
During last year's WWDC, I think, Jobs said Leopard would be released late 2006/early 2007, around the same time as Vista. Spring 2007, which can be an elastic time frame, is really not that far off that projection. I think it's a stretch--a real stretch, I would emphasize--to compare a delay of one or two months, at most, with what MS has been doing with Longhorn/Vista for some three years now. I do not think "Apple pulled a Microsoft."
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tomo_kun said 4:15PM on 8-07-2006
I'll be waiting in line at the apple store to buy this OS, no questions asked.
The iChat improvements alone make me want to upgrade. And if this is only the first 10, out of the *many* improvements Tiger had, im looking forward to it.
And whats with this "Sluggish spotlight" crack? Would you rather use the search feature on XP? Spotlight is fast enough for my needs (and I use it every day).
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Wayne said 4:21PM on 8-07-2006
Of course I'll buy it the day Leopard comes out but I can't help but feel a bit disappointed by the features announced today (plus the fact I have 50 shares of AAPL). The features demoed seem to be more evolutionary rather than revolutionary. Maybe the "top-secret" features will be jaw dropping. I like the Spaces feature though (yeah yeah, Linux). New Dashboard seems cool too. Looking forward to Macworld now!!
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Andrew said 4:22PM on 8-07-2006
I never heard a fall dater said by Apple. I've always thought it would be late 2006 or early 2007.
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Kevin said 4:22PM on 8-07-2006
The Mail improvements are all bloat.
Stationary? Do they really think anyone is going to use this?
To-dos and notes? iCal already had a to-do lists and I'd much rather manage this stuff online with a tool like Backpack so I can access the information anywhere in the world, not just on my Mac at home.
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extensor said 4:22PM on 8-07-2006
Nice attempt at comedy.
.
.
.
don't quit your day job.
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narco said 4:24PM on 8-07-2006
I'm sure Apple wants to release Leopard around the same time as Vista is released -- probably to steal the thunder. I'm sure the extra time could be used to fix any little bugs, but I definitely don't think it's cause for alarm.
Fishes,
narco.
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mark123 said 4:25PM on 8-07-2006
Apple never commited to a release date. But who cares, as long as leopard comes out before vista. Then again not too before vista. Like the banners say ... "Redmond has a cat ... a copycat".
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Matthew said 4:29PM on 8-07-2006
I seem to remember that after Tiger came out Apple reps were saying it would be longer than 18 months between versions from now on. I think Leopard will be a more significant upgrade over Tiger than Tiger was over Panther. I am really looking forward to using the features that were demo'd today. I also believe that Apple has some significant changes up their sleves that we won't see until Leopard or Vista ships which ever one does first.
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Reid Bode said 4:30PM on 8-07-2006
It seems like Apple is giving itself a safe zone.
Besides,
1. They're probably going to try to release closer to Vista.
2. They'll probably annouce early on anyway, for a pleasant (and better looking) surprise.
3. Wouldn't developers need more time anyway? Two-three months seems a little short.
Who knows, it could be the big announcement in January.
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Steven Fisher said 4:30PM on 8-07-2006
At WWDC last year, Jobs said "late 2006 or early 2007." I don't see how you can take that as a "promise" for a fall 2006 release date.
Don't believe me? Check the wikipedia article as of July 18, 2005:
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mac_OS_X_v10.5&oldid=19098023
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HS said 4:30PM on 8-07-2006
I don't buy into your crisis 2.0 thing. It was you wasnt it?
The current OSX is by no means any worse than Apple was in the past, it's the best to date as far as I'm concerned, I don't know what makes you argue otherwise. Faulty memory or just paranoia? Could be either, or it could be that I'm the one that's wrong.
Anyway, Apple is doing good, I know that's pretty scary, but you're not really convincing me that you being scared is in fact a crisis for Apple. :)
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stephen said 4:33PM on 8-07-2006
I agree with the others, I don't recall a hard date being issued in the past. I believe this perception is based on the assumption that Apple would want to ship Leopard before Vista as a way to embarrass Microsoft.
I believe that's not the case and that what Apple wants is for Leopard to go head-to-head with Vista. A true showdown. Apple also doesn't want to give Redmond the opportunity to copy anything from Leopard into Vista, which releasing Leopard long before Vista might do.
So with that in mind, it means that this "delay" is thanks to Microsoft. Once Microsoft pushed their release date into 2007, Apple decided to move their own data according.
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Billy K said 4:36PM on 8-07-2006
I'll get Leopard the way I get all my OS updates: when I buy a new machine. Probably in April or May.
Frankly, I don't see any "must-haves" in 10.5. Practically everything they covered today can be done well with third-party software. Maybe the SUPER-SECRET FEATURE will be the "killer app."
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philip said 4:36PM on 8-07-2006
My Prediction:
MacWorld '07 Steve will say,"We finished Leopard early, its on sale now."
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Connor Cimowsky said 4:37PM on 8-07-2006
The reason they're delaying it is because:
1). They need more time to fix bugs
2). They need developers to test it
3). They want to hold out as long as possible so that Microsoft won't have time to copy them when they let it out. This is also why they are not revealing all of the features today.
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