OS X Leopard: the Road Map


MacScoop has reportedly got hold of the road map for OS X 10.5 Leopard's release. Apple has been cagey about the final release date, but did distribute the beta at WWDC, some copies of which have found their way onto torrents.

The rumored road map reveals that a new Leopard build will be seeded in early July, although only Select and Premium ADC members will receive the new build.

A full-feature build is expected to be released in August. At present, in beta form, Leopard's feature set is not frozen. However, that will change by August, but there will be new features, that are currently incomplete, that are not in the current beta.

New interface features - most are subtle and evolutionary, apparently - include the Dock and a new menu bar.

The Leopard FC (Final Candidate) is expected to arrive early September, followed by 4-6 weeks of system testing, before GM (Golden Master) by mid-October latest. That makes a late October retail release possible, although early November is also on the cards, if scheduled deadlines aren't met. This would still give Apple plenty of time to start pre-loading Leopard onto Mac systems for the holiday shopping season.