Well, it's happened: what faithful viewer Steve P. refers to as the "Golden Sawtooth Rumor Convergence." Earlier this week, Apple Insider reported that Sawtooth, Apple's next pro motherboard, had fallen far behind schedule, and wouldn't ship until the first quarter of 2000. That sounded a bit fishy to us, since earlier rumors implied that Sawtooth was way ahead of schedule; in fact, for a while it sounded like Apple was considering shipping Sawtooth-based G3 Power Macs instead of waiting for Motorola to get the G4 processor out the door. (Why sit on a great motherboard just because the next-generation chip is late?) But Apple Insider was claiming pretty much the opposite: that the G4 chip is essentially done, but Sawtooth is lagging. They went on to claim that Apple is hard at work trying to get a G4 running on a tweaked current-generation Yosemite motherboard so that Power Mac G4 systems can ship before Sawtooth is ready.

Then, adding to our natural skepticism, we saw Mac OS Rumors' extended report on their week with a Sawtooth-based Power Mac G4 prototype. MOSR's experience seemed to indicate that Sawtooth was pretty stable-- far more stable than a system that wouldn't ship for another six months. So that's when we started wondering if perhaps Apple Insider had fallen prey to Apple-generated disinformation; the two reports just didn't seem to mesh. And then there's the little matter of Apple Insider's reported code name for the alleged G4-on-Yosemite project: "Yikes!" No offense, but while that appellation ranks high on the cool meter, it also smacks of more than the U.S. recommended daily allowance of "hoax."

Now, though, convergence has occurred. Both Apple Insider and Mac OS Rumors have updated their reports, and they're both saying that Sawtooth is in fact not expected to ship until next year. They also both agree that Yosemite-based systems with G4 chips will surface in a matter of weeks. And as for the "Yikes!" name? Mac the Knife has jumped on board, giving his inimitable seal of approval to the project and its alarming name. So there you have it; all the major rumor outlets have aligned on this one. If you were waiting for a Sawtooth-based G4 to be your next Mac, you're probably going to have to keep waiting. If, on the other hand, you don't mind a Yosemite motherboard, start scraping up some cash, because the first Yikes! G4 boxes might be shipping in a matter of weeks. And if Apple Insider is right, they'll be translucent white and grey...