Apple's Leopard Leaked On Internet
Torrent sites around the Internet were offering a 6.56 G versions of the operating system software set for release on Friday by Apple, of Cupertino, Calif.
Apple did not immediately return an email seeking comment.
Leopard is Apple's first operating system upgrade in two years, when it released its Tiger OS 10.4.
Earlier versions of Leopard have been leaked to torrent sites as well. In June a beta version that Apple released at its Worldwide Developer Conference was leaked to the torrent sites.
Commentators on torrent sites debated the authenticity of the files on Tuesday afternoon, but users by the hundreds began downloading the software from a variety of different sources. Up to 6 "seeders" were hosting the operating system for pirate users.
Earlier Tuesday Apple took down its free download of the Boot Camp software beta which allowed users to install both the Mac OS and Microsoft Windows on Macintosh computers in anticipation of the Oct. 26 launch. Apple had previously said that licenses of the beta program would expire before Leopard hit the market.
VARs and distributors are anticipating big sales of the Leopard OS and of associated hardware after its release.