MacRumors.com

Apple has seeded the usual technology reviewers with early copies of Mac OS X Leopard for review. The reviews were published tonight. Overall, Leopard is described to be a solid upgrade with only minor bugs encountered in the testing by the reviewers. David Pogue specifically states that he was using the final version of Leopard for a week prior to the review. Compatibility with existing applications is also described as good, and upgrades from existing Tiger installs appeared to go smoothly.

NYTimes - David Pogue
• "The most serious misstep in Leopard is its new see-through menus. .... Often, Apple’s snazzy graphics are justifiable because they make the Mac more fun to use. In this case, though, nothing is gained, and much is lost."
• "Otherwise, the only cause for pause is the usual minor set of 1.0 bugs, which Apple generally fixes with software updates after a major release."
• "Leopard is powerful, polished and carefully conceived. Happy surprises, and very few disappointments, lie around every corner."

Wall Street Journal - Walt Mossberg
• "I did notice a few drawbacks, but they were minor."
• "In fact, every piece of software and hardware I tried on two Leopard-equipped Macs -- a loaned laptop from Apple and my own upgraded iMac -- worked fine, exhibiting none of the compatibility problems that continue to plague Vista."
• "Leopard isn't a must-have for current Mac owners, but it adds a lot of value."

USA Today - Edward Baig
• "I migrated to Leopard from the last OS X version, Tiger, without pain on a MacBook laptop and my own iMac desktop"

Apple is launching Mac OS X Leopard on Friday, October 26th at 6 p.m. There have been a few scattered reports that Mac OS X Leopard has already arrived in the hands of some lucky customers today, but no unboxing photos have yet been published or submitted.