Leopard Delayed: Why Everyone Should Shut Up and Wait

Posted by Alec Feld on 04/12/07 in Apple, Articles

Leopard When Apple announced that Leopard was being delayed today, I said to myself “I knew it.” Of course Apple wasn’t going to ship out Leopard on time, the thing wasn’t anywhere near done or usable. Yes, at first I did complain about how I was going to have to wait six more months for the OS, but then I thought about why I didn’t need it right away. I came up with several ideas and decided to write a small post to calm all of those iPhone haters down.

1. Tiger is fine.
Seriously, Tiger was probably one of Apple’s biggest OS X updates next to Panther. Spotlight. Dashboard, QuickTime 7, Safari RSS, a new version of iChat, Automator, .Mac Sync, I think you get the point. Tiger is a great OS and I’m happy with it for now.

2. Do you really need Spaces right now?
Some of Leopard’s features can be used on Tiger with apps like SuperDuper and Virtue. These apps may not have the eye candy that Spaces and Time Machine have, but they work and get the job done. Do you really need to transform your Mac into the solar system right now?

3. Less bugs, better features.
I’d rather have a clean, polished, and bug free OS than one that was rushed out the door so the iPhone could be shipped. Giving Apple more time will allow a more stable release, and who knows, maybe an extra feature or two.

I’m not sure why everyone is rushing to grab Leopard, but a four month delay is fine, as Apple has time to clean up and polish the OS. Features like Spaces and improved Spotlight, at least for me, can wait until October. For now, I’m going to enjoy Tiger while it lasts.

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21 Comment(s)

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Greg H said on

April 12th, 2007 at 8:42 pm

I guess I don’t mind that Apple is delaying the shipping. I would rather them ship a polished, completly finished OS than a buggy, rushed OS.

Robin said on

April 12th, 2007 at 9:02 pm

Of course I want and need Spaces. Why else do you think i like *nix desktop managers? A lot of them (if not most of the popular ones - GNOME, KDE, Xfce, etc.) have built-in virtual desktops. Virtuedesktops did this, but it’s not in active development.

And their announcement doesn’t suggest more bugfixes for Leopard (though that is most likely the case) — they’re moving developers off of Leopard to the iPhone effort.

steve said on

April 12th, 2007 at 10:02 pm

i am more mad because i am not getting my student discount.

Justin Laramee said on

April 12th, 2007 at 10:03 pm

It’s kind of frustrating because I planned to buy a MacBook Pro when Leopard was coming out. I don’t know if I’m gonna wait until October though. Anyway, I agree with you Alec.

Marvin Sum said on

April 12th, 2007 at 10:07 pm

I guess everyone’s getting agitated because there haven’t been any major Mac announcements for a very long time.

Four months is ok I guess, just as long as it doesn’t turn into another vista delay.

Will said on

April 12th, 2007 at 10:50 pm

I want it now daddy! I want an oompa loompa now! Buy me an oompa loompa!

I am disappointed, but hopefully October means October, not “Late November” as these things often go.

shadownight said on

April 12th, 2007 at 11:14 pm

Still a bummer… Not fun. We do love the iPhone, it’s just it’s not as accessible and useful to many Mac geeks as Leopard is.

-1

Julian said on

April 12th, 2007 at 11:22 pm

umm…. well i am a little disappointed but you know what Alec you are completely right in each point Tiger is great as it is and i rather have a faster or more stable OS.

Mike said on

April 13th, 2007 at 1:36 am

Ive also been putting off a purchase in hopes of getting Leopard. Now I say screw it. Im buying an iMac and Ill buy Leopard when it comes out.

Eugenia said on

April 13th, 2007 at 1:48 am

Oh right. When Vista was late, everyone was making fun of MS, now that Leopard is late, we should “shut up and wait”.
Mac zealotry at its best.

Yohannes Wijaya said on

April 13th, 2007 at 2:35 am

you guys have to realize that the handheld industry is a multi-billion dollars market, which is an uncharted area by apple. It’s simple to deduce that either you ship leopard or iphone first. the choice is clear. You can grab even more new users if you deliver the iphone on time who might eventually flock to buying a mac at the end. leopard get delayed? big deal! we still gonna buy it anyway when it’s released. now, when some windoze users make a big deal of leopard got delayed, tell them that vista was released too soon

Yong Hwee said on

April 13th, 2007 at 3:19 am

For some reason I don’t have a problem with the delay..

buc said on

April 13th, 2007 at 3:43 am

Hey… I’m kinda happy with this announcement because I’ve been delaying purchase for so long… counting days and waiting for June… we’ll who cares… I’ll just buy an upgrade when they release Leopard - at least I know it will work the way OS should… Unlike Vista I got with my new job laptop…

Kevin Boggs said on

April 13th, 2007 at 3:43 am

I have to agree. I was disappointed at first. I think I’m just jonesing for another fix of reality distortion. I’m really pretty happy with Tiger but I sure hope when we do get Leopard it has a double portion of the ol’ “RD” built in.

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fozzieb said on

April 13th, 2007 at 4:26 am

I don’t mind the delay, although Mac users should stop taking the p**s out of MS when they delay. Who cares, the os we have is amazing and i’m sure the wait will be worth it.

darius said on

April 13th, 2007 at 6:48 am

tell me what guys, how many of you, dissapointe ones, have already used all possible features of Tiger? i think none. and so loeapard delay shouldnt be dissapointment. its only the need for newer and newer spftware, whitout thinking you need it or not.

Scott Hoenig said on

April 13th, 2007 at 6:56 am

While I’m glad they’re waiting until they have a solid release, I’m disappointed because I’ve been planning to buy a new iMac since February, but decided to wait for “spring” to get Leopard & iLife ‘07 on it. Now I either wait another 6 months, or I shell out an extra $300 to get them later. And now I’m waiting for the rumored iMac refresh, which I’m hoping wasn’t delayed until fall, as well.

I think hardware sales are going to continue to fall for Apple as people sit on their hands and wait. Most people don’t want to buy a product that’s almost instantly outdated. Some of us only replace our computers every 4-5 years, and haven’t jumped on the Intel bandwagon yet. This was supposed to be my year–now, I’m WAITING…

trainwrecka said on

April 13th, 2007 at 3:39 pm

i’ll get over it when i’m using my iPhone in June, since that will obviously mean less money to Apple that month… unless they announce some other must have item (iLife? iWork)

Brnzwngs said on

April 13th, 2007 at 11:55 pm

Ah I wouldn’t worry about it for a while. I agree with Alec - let Apple do there thing. New iPods will appear, the iPhone will surface, and Leopard will spring in due time.

James Bayliss said on

April 14th, 2007 at 6:15 am

Tiger is really ace. To be honest. I know alot of people who won’t generally upgrade, and they will stick with tiger, and I can see why. There’s no reason for everyone to rush to the apple store and shout “give me give me” when you know it’s going to be all buggy.

Jay Martin said on

April 14th, 2007 at 11:03 am

I agree…Tiger is fine and I can wait for a better product. The upgrade is just added features on top of a great OS (to me).