News 

What this gold master version comprises, however, is less clear, with reports circulating that it may lack support for, amongst others, DVD playback, iTunes and iMovie.

In reality, Apple does not need to roll out a fully-featured version as yet, as the large majority of users will continue to rely on OS 9 to do the majority of their work. The key OS X release will be the first revision, expected in the summer, when Apple has said that most applications will have been reconfigured - carbonised - to take advantages of the OS X operating environment and when all new Macs will ship with it as the default OS.

OS X take-up can be expected to be very gradual amongst the majority of users, with only hardcore Mac users taking the plunge in the first few months; and even those will most likely switch between 9 and X as the situation demands.