Okay, so we are getting iMovie and iTunes for Mac OS X right at the operating system's launch-- just not in the box. That's fine by us, since downloading is what Tiggers do best. But lest you think that we've gone too googly-eyed over Apple finishing native versions of two of its most important consumer-oriented applications to notice that Mac OS X is still missing a few features, think again; there's still no DVD player, iTunes will let us rip and mix but it won't let us burn, and iDVD for Mac OS X is still nowhere to be seen. But here's the good news: at yesterday's press briefing, Steve graciously described the timetable for the stuff that should have been ready this Saturday, but won't be.

According to a CNET article we found courtesy of faithful viewer Johnny Asbury, CD-RW support is first in line; apparently we can expect an update by the end of April that'll let us burn discs to our hearts' content. Next up is DVD playback, a feature that's slated for release "sometime in the spring." For those of you who only look at the pictures on the calendar, we should mention that spring only started a couple of days ago, so it's possible that we'll be waiting for up to three months before we can watch movies on our PowerBook; with luck, however, Apple will get it working in time for the April 24th release of the DVD version of Little Nicky, because otherwise riots may break out among cinema fans the world over.

After that, iDVD will finally make its appearance; a Mac OS X-compatible version of Apple's revolutionary DVD-creation software is slated for release "later this spring or early summer." Those of you lucky enough to own a SuperDrive-equipped Power Mac G4 are therefore banished to Mac OS 9ville for a while longer-- at least on those occasions when you want to throw your iMovies onto a handy DVD. We're guessing that's a rare enough event that most G4/733 owners are going to want to spend most of their time running Apple's latest and greatest, however; with that kind of horsepower under the hood, not running Mac OS X would be a crime against all that's decent in this world.

So there it is: Apple's schedule for rolling out the remaining "nonessential" features missing from this Saturday's release. Note, if you will, that all of these features are slated to appear well in advance of mid-July. Coincidence? Yeah, right; remember, Apple's going to start shipping Mac OS X on every Mac starting this summer, and the most logical time for the switchover will be at Macworld Expo which kicks off on July 17th. Suffice it to say that Apple had better have a full stable of features by then, or the press is going to shred it to bits...