Although Leopard has been delayed for several months, sources at AppleInsider claim that Apple is now asking its developer community whether the latest build of Leopard is suitable for a shipping. Using an online survey, developers are asked how the latest Leopard release measures up to the current shipping Tiger build in both performance and stability. They are inquired about user experience in several fields, including Web & Mail, Productivity, Sharing & Device Compatibility, Media & Graphics, and over-all Interface responsiveness.
OS X Leopard is currently set to ship in October 2007. There are only a few weeks left until Leopard will "go gold" and be physically printed on DVDs for shipping, but many testers still complain about bugs and poor performance. Many question whether Apple will do what Microsoft supposedly did with Vista: Release an operating system before performance issues are fixed for the sake of meeting a deadline.
A recent incident has also made matters worse. A guide detailing how to install Leopard on generic PCs have been leaked onto the internet. Although hackers have tried hard to keep their progress secret before Leopard officially debuts, an individual posted a step-by-step guide on his web blog in what may have been a crude attempt to gain site traffic. Apple may scramble to make last-minute changes to Leopard to thwart illegal installations. However, time is short, and such efforts would simply complicate the Cupertino-based company's difficult task of finalizing Leopard.
Recommended Comments