One year ago today, Apple released to the general public the first release of Mac OS X 10.4 “Tiger”. It was a great example how devoted the Mac Faithful can be: hoards of them lined up at the doors to get their hands on the new OS like a new movie had just come out.
Not many people really worried about the whole “early adoption” issue. Everyone assumed that Mac OS X was now mature enough for that not to be an issue. And for the most part, they were right. There were a few minor bug issues, but looking back on the release, there weren’t many initial issues.
This highlights a uniqueness of the Mac Culture. Apple has created, almost singlehandedly, an entire culture or cult of people rallying around, of all things, a company. Not just through the release of Tiger, but through all most of their products over the past, well, 20 years.
Will this happen again? Absolutely. We’ll almost definitely see people lining up at Apple Stores the world over waiting to get their hand on Leopard (Mac OS X 10.5).
Posted by Galen 
