Why a Leopard Delay is a Good Thing

Apple news this week is that Leopard, Mac OS 10.5, won’t be out this spring, but instead in the fall. I’m celebrating. Why? It’s not because I don’t want Leopard, or because I don’t think it is ready yet (how would I know?), but simply: Tiger (OS 10.4) is good, and upgrading will be expensive.

So will cost $129, I assume, to upgrade to 10.5. I’ve got a PowerMac. My wife has one. Plus, I’m responsible for a business with six other Macs that will need upgrading. That’s 7 x $129! And upgrading is not an option. Sooner than later, Adobe and other software vendors will be releasing updates that are 10.5-only. I’ll bet Adobe does it right away. They are already releasing software that is Intel-only. I use Boot Camp already, and the beta on 10.4 is already rumored to expire when Leopard comes out.
So I have to pay more than $1,000 in the months following Leopard’s release. And for what? I’m not sure what Leopard will do for me that would be worth that. Sure, it will be a step forward. Sure, it will be better than Tiger. But I’m not hurting for anything now. As it is, I don’t even use some of the “cool new features” in Tiger, like Expose.

So I’ll get Leopard when it comes out. And I’ll probably love it. But I don’t mind the wait.