As the Apple Turns: Scene 4945: This Date Matches That Date (9/27/04)

This Date Matches That Date (9/27/04)

Are you still running some horribly antiquated non-Exposé-enabled operating system like that decrepit old Mac OS X 10.2? Sheesh, what does it take, people? After all, Apple had been running a promo for months now by which you could have paid bought Panther and Apple would have given you-- absolutely free of charge-- a copy of iLife '04 and a crisp, new dollar bill (or the eight-weeks-later reimbursive retroactive financial equivalent thereof). So not only could you have been fast-user-switching between redundant accounts just to see that spinny cube-thing for the past few months, but you could also have been jamming in GarageBand, talking on the phone to anywhere in the U.S. for up to fifteen solid minutes, and putting the remaining penny on some train tracks to make Honest Abe all smeared out and deformed-looking. That's a whole heapin' pile of entertainment for a great, great price, and you missed it.

Or did you? Well, no, or we probably wouldn't be rambling on about it like this. As it turns out, Apple has renewed the "Add more life to your Mac" promo for another few months, so now you've got until January 10th to buy Panther and iLife together in order to qualify for a $50 check by mail. (Crassly self-serving tip: you can save an additional $20.00 over retail by buying them both through our Amazon.com link.) And while that's exciting news all on its lonesome (well, as exciting as Apple-related news gets on a Sunday, anyway), apparently the timing of the promo is kicking up a little speculative dust about a potential release date for Panther's Tiggeriffic successor, Mac OS X 10.4.

See, according to MacMinute, some people are smiling and nodding knowingly when they clue in to the fact that Apple's Panther-plus-iLife promo was extended through January 10th, which just happens to be the first day of Macworld Expo. (You know, the real one, in San Francisco. The one that Apple actually bothers to show up for. That one.) So here's the gist of the speculation: since the promo is for Panther, and Tiger is slated to ship in "the first half of 2005," and the Panther promo now ends on the first day of the Expo which just happens to be in the first half of 2005, isn't it blindingly obvious that Apple plans to release Tiger at Steve's keynote at the Expo? It's not like you need a deerstalker cap and a magnifying glass to see the connection (although that's a really classy look for you).

The thing is, though, we've played the "hey, look, this promo's been extended until such-and-such a date so that must be when new stuff is coming out" game before, and we can't recall when it's ever actually paid off. There's a good chance that Apple just renewed the promo through the Stevenote because that's the earliest that Tiger could possibly surface, and the company will just keep extending it each quarter until Tiger actually ships. And let's not forget that this is a Panther-plus-iLife '04 promotion. Remember when iLife '04 premiered? Yup, at the last January Stevenote. So maybe the promo ends on January 10th not because of Tiger, but because of iLife '05.

Not to step on your buzz with the Big, Clunky Boots of Logic, mind you; if you're riding a happy over some perceived "evidence" that you'll be Tigering up in less than four months' time, please, don't let us stop you. It's just that we tend to feel a little rational on Mondays. We know, it's ugly. We'll go away now.

Tiger in January!! Wooooooooo!!

SceneLink (4945)

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From the writer/creator of AtAT, a Pandemic Dad Joke taken WAYYYYYY too far

The above scene was taken from the 9/27/04 episode:

September 27, 2004: Apple extends a Mac OS X promo to January 10th; will we get Tiger at the Expo Stevenote? Meanwhile, a customer with a chronically ailing Power Mac G4 gets a free trade-up to a dual 2.5 GHz G5, and more iPod peripherals are finally starting to get off the tired old topic of music...

Other scenes from that episode:

4946: One Fine Consolation Prize (9/27/04) "Hey, AtAT, what the heck's happened to Apple's quality control over the past few years?" Yeah, we get that question more often than we'd like, usually from people who aren't really expecting an answer...
4947: DO NOT STARE INTO BEAM (9/27/04) We seem to recall having heard at some point recently that an Apple rep referred to the iPod as a "platform" unto itself, and boy howdy, he or she wasn't kidding. iPod accessories used to be limited just to a multitude of cases, car chargers, and the same 1/8" minijack headphones that you could buy for any portable music player...

Or view the entire episode as originally broadcast...


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