Wuh-oh, we accidentally left our psychic accessways unlocked and now we're about to channel an on-topic alternate universe instance of eighties pop band Bow Wow Wow! Wait for it... Wait for it... Hrrrnnngh... HRRRNNNNNNGH!!! "IIIIIIII want Pan-ther (bum ba-bum ba-bum ba bum-bum), IIIIIIII want Pan-ther (bum ba-bum ba-bum ba bum-bum)." Yeah, okay, we're finished now. Listen, don't talk to us about the kind of day you've had unless you've had a manifestation of a parallel-reality Annabella Lwin jumping around inside your cranium, okay?

And apparently, she wants Panther, and who can blame her? After early rumors had pegged its release sometime in the September timeframe, Steve Jobs had to bum everyone out at WWDC by getting us all hot and bothered about the upgrade's cool new features and then committing to no firmer a ship date than "before the end of this year." And sure, September is, indeed, "before the end of this year," but in the software development business, "before the end of this year" traditionally means December 31st at three seconds to midnight. Or, more often, February. So we weren't exactly holding our breath.

But a month ago, new rumors surfaced claiming that Panther might ship "much more quickly" than the end-of-the-year deadline implied; we remained skeptical, of course, because our hearts have been broken too many times in the past (snif), but in the four short weeks since that report showed up, developer seeds of Panther have indeed shown almost insane degrees of progress. AppleInsider has details on the latest, known by the catchy moniker "7B28," which reportedly boasts lots of performance improvements but "little to no visual or feature alterations" since 7B21, leading AI to surmise that "the development process is starting to wind down."

And here's the kicker quote: "Panther was originally slated for a September release, and from the looks of the latest builds, should hit that target." Yowza! Sure, it's still not quite as far along as we'd expect it to be if Panther were going to ship in a month (the included version of QuickTime isn't even at beta status, yet), but we have to admit, it's waaaaay closer to done than a December-shipping product has any right to be. Then there are the second-hand reports floating through the AtAT compound of Apple system software engineers being chained to their desks for days at a time while hooked up to elaborate intravenous nutrient and caffeine delivery apparatus-- why the crunch-time effort if they've got until December to deliver the goods?

We admit it, we're really starting to come around to the idea that Apple fully intends to ship this puppy come Apple Expo Paris on September 16th, which would rock on so many levels we can't even begin to tell you. Forget about "man bites dog"; "operating system ships three months before deadline" is real news, and the press will just eat it up. And it's a can't-lose gambit, too, because even if Panther isn't quite ready in time for the Expo, thanks to Steve's "end of this year" announcement it'll be no harm, no foul. Of course, that won't stop us from sticking our heads in the oven with bitter, albeit unwarranted, disappointment. (Don't worry, it's an electric.)