Reports late last week claimed that Apple had delayed Leopard in order to make its latest operating system update more compatible with Microsoft Vista. According to MacNewsWorld ace reporter Katherine Noyes, Apple was pushing the Leopard release date back to October in order to make Boot Camp fully Vista-complaint.
Many in the Mac community rightly expressed bafflement as to why Apple would delay an operating system used by millions for a feature used by thousands.
Crazy Apple Rumors Site has confirmed that Apple is delaying Leopard until October, but not for Vista compatibility. It is delaying it because Steve Jobs is buying a hamster.
According to sources close to Jobs, the mercurial CEO has saved his salary for each of the 10 years since he returned to Apple and is now looking to invest the $10 in a small rodent.
“Steve feels he’s ready for the commitment,” said senior vice president of worldwide marketing Phil Schiller. “He’s got the Habitrail with the little wheel all set up in his office. Got one of those ball things. Some pellets. And now he’s just waiting for that special little… um… critter.”
Jobs apparently expects the process of learning to care for a hamster to be quite involved, hence the need to delay Leopard.
“I’ve told him you just give them some water, toss some pellets in there and then you can leave for the weekend,” Schiller said, “but he just smiles at me and says ‘Oh, Phil!’
“It’s really fricking pissing me off.”
Regardless of the reason, the move to delay the release of Leopard was hailed by Rob Enderle, principal analyst with the Boneheaded Jackass Enderle Group. [Editor: we were really sure it was the Boneheaded Jackass Group but when we checked he apparently calls it the Enderle Group. That’s what he said and that’s what’s on his business cards, but I’m just not sure. We’re still looking into it.]
Reached for comment, Enderle said “I eat paste!”
Wait, that’s not right…
Hmm.
Oh. It is.
Just checked my notes.
Says right here. “I eat paste!”
He seemed pretty excited about it, too.
He also had a little in the corner of his mouth.
Paste, that is.
An Apple spokesperson said that Jobs’ hamster break-in period is not expected to go past October, but warned that Leopard could be delayed further if the Apple CEO suddenly takes up macramé.
Firsties
Second paste!
secondsies too?
i mean thirdsies and 4thsies
I eat 
sixt little pony
Microsoft should have delayed vista until they heard what apple’s secret new feature is!
Good stuff CARS staff. But I followed the link and read that article. Don’t you think inventing that whole tech news site and its “ace reporter” is a long way to go for a joke?
It’s what? Huh?
No WAY!!!
Seriously?
Huh-uh. Impossible.
It’s important to remember that once Leopard comes out, it can never be improved again, so if BootCamp isn’t quite finished when it comes out, there will never be any improvements made to it ever. Hence, it needs to be perfect the first time, October be damned.
Also, Leopard needs to set up for 11, so it’s crucial for it to drop on the 10th month.
The real reason that Leopard is delayed, is a shortage of spots.
Would all loyal Apple supporters send all their spots, zits, boils or any temporary growths to Steve Jobs, Cupertino, USA.
Ryan said:
Microsoft should have delayed vista until they heard what apple’s secret new feature is!
That’s nonsense. They have to save something to introduce six years from now.
I hate to dispute a CARS story, but my sources are adamant that Leopard will be delayed until October to ease the migration to Mac for all Windows switchers. It’s not a BootCamp issue. Mac OS X is very unfamiliar to Windows users, and they have difficulty understanding that it’s a “computer operating system.” Apple feels that delaying the product for six months or so will be a big aid to comprehension for them.
Shouldn’t we officially call it Mac os X.5 “Hamster” ?
I mean, I’m fed up with those cats…
Never liked cats.
Even with “Sauce Gribiche”.
Isn’t delayed to help new Mac users not to be too much confused, in changing the appearance for a kind of more austere and serious interface, and more blue screens ? That elegant grey of the Kernel Panics is that puzzling…efficient, chic, sober. Irrelevant.
It has to look like a computer, you know.
However, George Ou of ZDNet claimed in his column that Leopard was likely to be delayed, because Mr. Jobs had gotten too busy planning the invasion of Poland.
“Apple is dangerous and maniacally, completely out of control, like a Nazi stormtrooper on crack,” he added. “It’s all a big worry for that nice Bill Gates.”
“Vista-complaint.” that’s so Freudian. And sexy.
And the hamster’s sexy.
Ooh! New info for Rob Enderle’s Wikipedia page. I’m on it.
The iHamster!!!!
It’s finally coming!!!!
Mmm… Maybe I should cut back on the paste, too.
Was the paste white?
Apple should bring back the Windows 3.1 look and feel, but with just a splash of Aqua.
Carl makes an excellent point. Once Leopard is released, that’s it. Leopard and Vista will be locked in a titanic struggle for desktop dominance until the end of time.
Kind of like that guy and his alter ego in that original Star Trek episode. I think it was called “In Truth Is There No Alter Ego Guy?” Or maybe it was just “Amok Alter Ego Guy.”
I think more than just thousands will complain about vista. I mean… really.
BTW I dreamed last night that I got 10th or 11th post on some CARS article of my subconcious. I wonder what it means.
I’ve said it before and I’ll keep saying it until it’s no longer true: Leopard coverage is spotty.
Sad, but this discussion makes me think of gerbils–hundreds of gerbils eating library paste. Afterwards, they form several marauding packs on the hunt for toothbrushes to despoil.
Like the mysterious Gerbils who George Ou thinks was effective?
Apparently the Enderle “Group” only has one Anal-yst and one web designer. And they seem to be screwing each other.
http://enderlegroup.com/profile.htm
Surely the delay must have to do with the need to implement special “clouded leopard” features to make it compliant with the new leopard discovered in Borneo? I bet Steve is ruing the day he decided to his OS versions after wild cats now….
Here’s something to ponder …
Micro$loth postponed the release of that lumbering cow beast known as Longhorn … uh, make that Vista … for years. Now they claim it’s the best selling version of Winblows yet!
Maybe Jobs is taking a hint … postpone the release of the Leopard OS and watch it’s popularity grow exponentially!
I can’t hear ahnyting over the sound of how awesome this article is.
Now See that article explains a lot of things. I have it from a good source that back on March 21, you know that first day of spring, that Steve Jobs ran out of the building at the Apple HQ, doing his version of Pauly Shore’s “The weasel”. My source told me he thought that Mr. Jobs had just seen “Pauly Shore is dead†and was upset. I was of the belief that Mr. Jobs seen his shadow and it was going to be ten more weeks till Leopard. It seems we both were wrong, it was just a hamster drill.
It’s delayed because they need to make it a little bit more difficult to use, for the Windows switchers. They just don’t understand the easyness, so Apple engineers are breaking their heads figuring out how to be a little more complicated, so they feel like home, I mean, Start button. Heard to my empty Coke bottle, and it wasn’t wrong before.
Seriously, why do people continue to quote Enderle? He’s only marginally better than George Ou and that’s only because he never threatened to poke Mac users in the eye with a sharp stick.
“Apple is having trouble getting Leopard out the door”…. Huh? Leopard isn’t even due until June – and Apple is still saying it’s on schedule. Yet Vista was what – 8 years late? And only by dropping 3/4 of the great features? Where’s Enderle’s ranting about Microsoft having trouble getting Vista out the door?
I wonder how long it takes to make your credibility so bad that you can get labeled as an expert on Macs.
My eyes glaze over and I hear the distinct sound of a slide-projector.
Your post is really too long and way off topic. (You lost me at “reverse positioning”). Somebody give this guy the three finger salute.
You know, I think he’s on to something.
Yes that post is too long…. Wait a minute it is John Lear, and this is not a place to have a little fun.
“From the high desert and great American southwest Good evening, Good morning, Good afternoon where you may be around the world, across the nation.” it is Coast to Coast Am, (and I like that show, before anyone gets mad) and lets go west of the rockies and I am Art Bell (once again before any one gets mad I like Art Bell and No I am not Art Bell).
Since I live in the boondocks, ordering anything from the internet was a dream. Swift-post.com has managed to fulfill it and then some. Truly high quality service at a fraction of the price. – Pauline