Okay, so now that we're all mired squarely in the double-digit months, out in these parts, at least, we're starting to notice frost on the windows in the morning. Trees are going all Crayola on us. Long sleeves and sweaters are suddenly de rigeur unless you're going for the blue-lipped look that's all the rage on the runways in Milan this fall. Summer is but a distant memory, like, well, two weeks ago last Monday. Put it all together and we can't help but feel that when Steve said that Panther would ship "before the end of the year," he might not have been all that overcautious after all. There are only, what, 85 days left in the year, right? And as of today, Apple still hasn't said Word One about an actual release date.

That might have come as a mild disappointment to AppleInsider, who published a cryptic little note about Apple allegedly lifting some sort of embargo this morning that was to allow the release of details about a new product. What new product? AppleInsider didn't say, although judging by its price point (apparently the only known detail about the mystery whatsit), AI hinted that it was probably Panther. The only problem is, of course, that no official Panther announcement materialized today; then again, neither did any other announcement from One Infinite Loop, so maybe that embargo just hasn't quite "embargone" just yet.

Don't give up hope, though, because MacRumors suggests that the announcement will come tomorrow, instead. Of course, they make it clear that the "tomorrow" thing is based entirely on "one report" and they stuck it onto Page 2, so there isn't exactly a ton of "oomph" behind the assertion. Meanwhile, everyone's pretty sure that, yes, Panther went gold last week, and yes, we'll be able to get our sweaty little mitts on it by the end of the month, but none of that seems real until Apple opens its yap and honks out an official press release. Until then, all we can do is sit around eating grapes and being antsy.

Why are we so jumpy? Well, largely it's an issue of symmetry. Remember how recent rumors pegged the Panther ship date as the 24th? Well, you might recall that Mac OS X 10.0 shipped on the 24th as well-- of March in 2001. And it just so happens that Apple issued a press release indicating that the operating system had gone gold and formally setting that March 24th ship date. Guess when that press release went out? Yup: on the 7th. So you can imagine how the lack of a "Panther's gone gold and it'll ship on the 24th" press release today has us a little off-kilter, and even starting to doubt-- irrationally, mind you-- the many, many reports that Panther is off at duplication and will ship by the end of the month.

Especially since we're all out of grapes.