AppleInsider StaffAs of the early afternoon hours, AppleCare technical support staff across the globe were instructed to follow prescribed training modules on several of Leopard's most essential components, according to people familiar with the matter.
These now include Tier 1 AppleCare technicians in addition to the Tier 2 technicians that were offered a head start via self-paced training modules earlier in the week.
Thus far, Apple has supplied the support reps with four initial training modules covering installation, Mail.app, Parental Controls and Boot Camp. The Cupertino-based company plans to rapidly expand its Leopard training to cover several other system components in the coming days.
Apple's internal plans continue to call for an official launch of Leopard at 6:00 p.m. on Friday Oct 26th. In recent days, the company has become more vocal in conveying this message to its top-tier partners without explicitly stating the date outright incase it is unable to meet that deadline.
For instance, Apple has essentially told some partners that the software is still "expected to ship in October" and that the company likes to ship its major operating system releases "on a Friday" and hinted to later rather than sooner.
Still, recent evidence suggested the software was still under active internal development as of Wednesday due to a handful of bugs Apple hoped to fix last minute.
Leopard will retail for $129 for the single license edition and $199 for the 5-seat family edition.
Charles Martin
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10 Comments
by 2 or 3 weeks to tell the truth. 11 major bugs to be fixed. They'll do an iPhone release, short on features, but release the other stuff in point 1 release a few weeks later.
From this activity, its obviously close to release. Then I expect to see some "surprises" in relation to the iPhone and Leopard. New Mac products as well.
Pete
Hah? WTF I need to go check with my technician co-worker on how to look at this juicy stuff. It may not be on the Sales Training side...
Still, recent evidence suggestted the software was still under active internal development as of Wednesday due to a handful of bugs Apple hoped to fix last minute.
This weekend it will go GM or November will be the release month. They could do a Microsoft and preinstall OSX on new Macs before shipping to retail, thus making the October release deadline.
Hmm...the more reports like this I hear, the less confident I am that Leopard truly did go Gold Master...this stuff should have happened a while ago, considering they are being trained on features of Leopard irregardless of Leopard's actual build status.
1. "Suggested" has one 't'.
2. A "handful of bugs"? You really believe your own dog food, do you?