First reported on Macfixit - Panther in December

[gopher]

http://www.amazon.de/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000AJ942/ref%3Ded_ec_sh_3_2_18_sw/302-7101665-8835235

[daveL]

No way. Panther by mid-September, announced, at least. In your hands no later than 1 October. The WWDC Panther preview was release 7Axxx. The new beta that went out to developers last Friday was 7B21. The Panther GM is very likely to be a 7Cxxx release. 7B21 is reported to be very fast and stable, with some additional features not found in 7A. Jaguar followed a similar release schedule; Jaguar GM was a 6Cxxx release.

The December date came about because of Jobs saying "by the end of the year". If you follow Apple much, you'll notice that this phrase is just their way of saying "we're not going to tell you in advance".

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.