My Calendar widget has faithfully informed me that we’re now officially in October. While October means black cats and goblins for some, October this year will bring big cats and goodies for us Mac users.

How’s that? It’s Leopard month – that’s how. “Sometime this month”, according to Apple CEO Steve Jobs, Mac OS 10.5, nicknamed Leopard, will be let out of the bag (OK, I promise - no more cat metaphors). Apple hasn’t made any official statements on Leopard’s exact shipping date since announcing a delay from the spring (April) of this year to this month. The reason for the delay? To divert software engineer resources to be able to release the iPhone “sometime in June”.

As “sometime in June” was June 29th, I think Leopard’s arrival “sometime in October” will be late in the month as well. Perhaps Apple will announce on October 5th (10/5 to coincide with Leopard being Mac OS 10.5) that Leopard will ship on Friday, October 26th (no significance to 10/26, but Apple likes to ship major new products on Fridays). We’ll see.

There’s no word on price yet. I would guess $129 for the single-user edition and $179 for a “family” version that can be installed on up to five Macs in a household. A little secret: in the past, at least, the single-user and family editions were exactly the same, just packaged differently. Apple gives you the chance to “do the right thing”. Refreshing.

Mac software developers received a new Leopard “build” from Apple recently, and another quick update shortly thereafter. Inside sources report the build to be ready to become the Leopard “Golden Master” that gets burned on DVDs and sold to eager upgraders. One late addition is the ability of the system’s Software Update application to update third-party software as well as Apple’s own. Whatever and whenever, I can’t wait to sink my claws into it. Claws! AARGH! I know I promised, but…I…just…can’t…stop!

I’ll probably be “spotted” standing in line at the Apple Store waiting to “lap up” a copy of Leopard. While there I’ll probably “pounce” on a new slimline Apple keyboard that I’ve heard is the “cat’s meow”. Although my MacBook Pro is “purring” along just fine with Tiger, Leopard may be the “catalyst” for another Mac purchase. However, that would be a “catastrophe” for my budget, so I might “paws” for a moment to reconsider that.