If you're paying any attention at all to the buzz surrounding Mac OS X, you're probably aware that the chances of Steve Jobs strolling out on stage at next month's Expo and announcing that version 1.0 is "available now" are pretty darn slim. First of all, there are the cold, hard facts: there's been only one beta, and it wasn't even feature-complete, lacking many of the niceties that Apple would need to include in a finished product-- AirPort support, better printing, a Dock that doesn't block window resize widgets, etc. And then there are the rumors and "insider info": first the Naked Mole Rat intimated that Apple's long-overdue operating system would ship "no earlier than the end of February," and barely a week later, ZDNet claimed that Apple was scheduling Mac OS X's big coming-out party for February 24th.

But for those of you who have planned elaborate Mac OS X release parties for that date, you might want to hold off on mailing the engraved invitations. Faithful viewer Nonsuch alerted us to a tidbit over at RAILhead Design last week, following ZDNet's "February 24th" scoop; apparently RAILhead's moles "CANNOT confirm" that, and indeed "do not know ANYTHING about this so-called 'special event' in February." Furthermore, while the Naked Mole Rat stated that the current public beta "will be both the first and last," RAILhead claims that "there will be another public beta release" at the Expo-- which, if true, would make a late-February 1.0 release pretty unlikely.

But wait, there's more! Order within the next ten minutes and we'll throw in a disinformation conspiracy theory absolutely free, while supplies last! As faithful viewer Jonathan Claydon reminds us, February 24th isn't just any ol' date yanked willy-nilly off the calendar; it also just happens to be the birthday of a certain iCEO we all know and love. And need we remind you that said iCEO is often characterized as being so intolerant of Apple moles that he even goes so far as to plant fake info purely as a means to trace and eliminate leaks while also confounding the rumors sites? That certainly puts this whole "February 24th" thing in a different light. You know, we were always suspicious of the claim that Apple would unveil Mac OS X on the last day of the Tokyo Expo-- and on a Saturday, to boot.

On the other hand, don't cancel those parties outright. Even if Mac OS X isn't actually born on the 24th as rumored, you can still celebrate the Illustrious Birth of Steve instead.