So has everyone come to terms with, if not necessarily the likelihood, then at least the distinct possibility that new Power Macs won't surface until WWDC at the end of June? Because if not, we strongly suggest that you find some way of reaching acceptance before you wind up crushed under a big, honkin' ball of disappointment. We realize it's not an easy scenario to stomach, especially without an embarrassing quantity of cheap liquor, but given the increasing frequency of "No G5s 'Til WWDC" rumors sprouting up like weeds all through the garden of Apple speculation, you owe it to yourself to spread the misery out a bit instead of taking it in one big wrecking-ball slam if NAB comes and goes with nothing to show for it but a new version of Shake. 'Cause, you know, that kind of thing can be fatal. Or at least very drying to the complexion.

See, for what it's worth, after mentioning the first hints that faster G5s might not show up until "June or July," Mac OS Rumors now joins AppleInsider in citing sources with large resellers and "Apple's largest corporate/institutional buyers" who claim that Apple has broadly hinted-- and possibly even flat-out said-- that its pro products aren't slated for a refreshing Blast o' Fast for another couple of months yet. And yes, it's all still just rumor at this point, but it'd break our hearts if an overoptimistic viewer put all his faith in the NAB target date and then wound up dead, or having to buy way too much Oil of Olay or something.

As for why Apple's pro products might not get updated until summertime, there's still more speculation on that front as well. AppleInsider now reports that Apple was "forced to completely rework the internal temperature sensors inside the current G5 case design to accommodate the new 90 nanometer G5 processors." While you might expect that lower-power chips like the 90-nano G5s would work just fine in a Power Mac enclosure engineered to cool hotter-running processors, apparently the heat sensors were screwing up big time and "throwing the fans into a frenzy"-- which, although it's not exactly the sort of thing you want happening in a shipping product, actually sounds like it'd be kind of a neat thing to see. (Nine fans going berserk! Better than monster trucks!) So even though they were cool like Fonzie, the Macs thought they were overheating and shut themselves down-- and all this, apparently, was the SOMETHING that HAD GONE TERRIBLY WRONG.

While that little chunk of ugliness has allegedly been sorted out, AI also claims that "low processor supplies" have also been a problem, with IBM's 90-nano G5 having "failed to yield even the baseline 2.0 GHz mark on a consistent basis"-- which, if true, is clearly the outcome of some Motorolan Evil Eye curse in action. While no one's got any hard evidence to back up the supply shortage report, it certainly might help explain why Xserve G5s shipped as late as they did, even at their 2.0 GHz speed.

Personally, however, we find these explanations a little too pedestrian to soothe our troubled souls. If we're going to have to wait until the end of June to see faster G5s, we're going to need a better reason that cooling malfunctions and supply shortfalls. Thank goodness, then, that faithful viewer Micah Tremain pointed out the real reason why Apple's pro lines will be stagnant until summer: according to an AFP article (found via MacRumors), there's a "global aluminum shortage" in full swing. Gee... aluminum miniPods severely constrained in the U.S. and delayed three months outside U.S. borders... aluminum Power Macs and PowerBooks not slated for revision for another two months yet... suddenly it all clicks into place, doesn't it?

We'd donate our Giant Foil Ball to Apple for the good of the cause, but, well... nahhhhh. Besides, we can't get it out of the basement.