When will Leopard ship?

I’ve been wondering when Leopard will ship.

My guess is that it’s farther along than you might think and that it will ship in October or November of this year. (If I had to pick a day, I’d guess October 27.)

The main thing is to get it out there before Vista, which is scheduled (still?) for January. So, if it’s going out before January, might as well get it out before Christmas, no?

Recall too that the timescale would be a bit like Panther’s: there was WWDC in the summer and then a release in late October. So there wouldn’t be anything unprecedented about an autumn release. Also recall that last year’s WWDC was all about Tiger, even though Tiger was already released—which means Leopard has been under construction for a while.