So ooooooh yeah, Tiger. And sure, there are bound to be a few users disappointed that Tiger apparently won't include such long-requested features as Free Cash™, iRevengeAgainstMyEnemies, and fully-integrated, system-level dog-walking capabilities-- but we're all big kids who've learned to accept that we can't always get what we want, right? After all, it's a sad fact of life that no one's going to walk your dog for you. Well, unless you hire one of those dog-walking services, we suppose. Or blackmail a family member into help you out. Come to think of it, you could probably even get a random guy off the street to do it if you could convince him that you were holding a loved one at gunpoint-- or that you were Sting! He'd probably do it if he thought you were Sting. Especially Sting with one of his loved ones at gunpoint.

Come to think of it, actually, there are lots of ways to get someone else to walk your mangy little dog; Tiger, however, is not one of them (for some reason), and so like we said, some users are bummed.

Perhaps the biggest disappointment, though, is this thorny little matter of when we'll finally be able to get our itchy little hands on this piston-hot bundle o' fur. When Steve pulled the sheet off of Panther at this very same shindig last year, Mac fans (who, in the typically overoptimistic manner of our people, had been expecting a Panther release by August or September) were upset that the closest thing that he'd give to a release date was "by the end of the year." We can only imagine what sort of hysterics those same people are experiencing now that Tiger has been promised to ship "in the first half of 2005." Seriously, think about it; that could be over a year from now. We're honestly supposed to wait that long before we can start moaning endlessly about how the new white-logo-on-blue-background Apple menu is really lame and distracting? (Oh, sure, we could start moaning about it now, but it just wouldn't be real, y'know?)

But c'mon, chin up-- it could be lots worse. We could be back in 1996-2001 waiting forever 'n' ever 'n' ever 'n' ever 'n' ever for Apple to quit flapping its gums about Rhapsody/Mac OS X/whatever they were calling it that week and changing its name and feature set and just freakin' ship it already. Or we could be Windows users (which is heinous enough to start with) listening to Microsoft flap its gums about Longhorn and not expecting anything to ship until 2006 at the earliest. Suddenly "first half of 2005" doesn't sound so bad, huh? And we're guessing that the developers appreciate having a little more lead time to build Tiger-specific functionality into their software with the SDKs they were given today. Heck, even as an end-user, aren't you a little relieved that it'll be up to another year before you have to pony up another $129 to stay current? Seems like we usually hear complaints about Apple issuing Mac OS X upgrades too often.

And don't forget, we were warned about this sort of thing just last month, when Apple's Chief Software Technology Officer Avie "If Anyone Calls Me a 'Wunderkind' Again, I Swear I'll Go Mental on Him With a Two-By-Four" Tevanian commented publicly that Apple would be "slowing that pace down a little bit" now that Mac OS X is a whole lot more mature than it was. So relax, earn a few more pennies' worth of interest on your $129, and spend some more quality time with Panther before you have to bid it adieu.

Besides, a ship date in "the first half of 2005" might be as little as six months away. Remember, folks, Panther beat its end o' the year shipping deadline by over a month, so Tiger's 1H/2005 projection doesn't necessarily mean a year from this Wednesday. At least, it's a nice thought to cling to if you're desperate...