Apple, Inc. today confirmed plans to release Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) to the public on October 26. This is a pretty exciting upgrade, including a claimed 300 new features and abilities. ITS has been tracking Leopard's progress for more than a year now, and based on the previews we've seen, we expect the new Mac OS to improve campus computing for Mac users substantially.

Testing the release version of the product, developing new master images and generally getting the new OS ready for deployment will take some time. For stability and security, ITS will likely wait until Apple issues at least one update to 10.5 before we release it to campus. In the meantime, watch this space for more news about what you can expect from the next big cat.