Hey, it's been a week and a half, already-- where the heck is our Mac OS X 10.0.1? Not that we aren't grateful to have 10.0 and everything, but even Apple plainly admits that the debut release is lacking certain features... and the general consensus among the "early adopters" seems to be that the operating system could use a healthy dose of Vitamin Speed. And given that we're overly-trusting individuals who tend to believe every little rumor that comes down the pike, we're getting a little impatient waiting for Apple's first Mac OS X patch-- given that it was allegedly ready almost two weeks ago.

Yes, we know about the "leaked" updater; faithful viewer Oren Krinsky, for one, told us that it's still available over at MacUpdate. But we're not quite cynical enough to believe that Apple has held off on officially releasing the update only to satisfy the misguided PR people who feel that issuing a bug-fix release so soon after the product's debut would "look bad." We just have to think that there's a real, honest-to-goodness technical reason why we're still puttering along with 10.0 when Apple had a 10.0.1 updater in its hot little hands.

Enter Mac OS Rumors, who (as faithful viewer The M@d H@tter kindly informed us) claims that the leaked 10.0.1 won't be the same as the real 10.0.1. Apparently the leaked version is a "partially completed build" labeled "4L5," and while it was originally slated for a release yesterday "at the latest," Apple is now holding off to fix some other "significant issues" that have come to light. The good news: when this thing does finally ship, we ought to see faster launch times, faster file copies, slightly faster window resizing, support for the sound and brightness keys on portables, better-behaved Finder windows, and more third-party drivers. The bad news: we might have to wait up to ten days to get it, and even after installing it, our sleeping PowerBook will continue to chew through battery power like a hungry billy goat in a junkyard. But hey, them's the perils of living life on the edge.

By the way, the leaked updater really does seem to do some good for at least some users, according to MacUpdate's feedback page. There are several reports of performance improvements, both in the Finder and in Classic, which range from "no difference at all" to "very noticeable." Personally, though, we're going to steer clear, and we suggest that you do the same. Installing an unofficial operating system update ranks Volcano Heat on the Hairiness Scale, and there's no telling what funkiness may ensue. In particular, we're concerned that installing the leaked 10.0.1 might lead to severe pain when trying to install the real thing once it's released. We'd rather suffer through the slowness for a while longer.