It's more than Silicon Valley legend that if you find the right misguided tech shop, you can sometimes purchase items before their manufacturer wants them released. Whether its a game console, like Microsoft's XBox 360 Arcade, or an operating system, the retail shops just might not know or might not care.On my way home this evening, I had a hunch that the Fry's superstore here in Sunnyvale would be one of those shops. Fry's is notorious for either putting an item on a shelf with no fanfare (the situation when I bought my wife a 2nd gen iPod Shuffle on the 2nd day it was available), or just flat-out not having an item at all, weeks after its debut. It's a serious hit or miss.
While I've already made up my mind that I'd like to hit up an Apple retail store tomorrow and be there for Leopard's unveiling, if I could get my hands on Leopard a day early thanks to Fry's, I would have purchased it tonight. But, no such luck. As I bee-lined my way to the Mac section of the store, they were all too prepared for geeks like me, with signs saying Leopard would be available for sale not today, but tomorrow, at 6 p.m. There wasn't even a box in sight. If there were, I would of course have played dumb and walked it up to the front register with intent to take it home.
So, I left the store empty-handed. I guess I'm not a real geek if I could get into Fry's and leave without buying anything, but today I'm willing to have that shame. Tomorrow however, is Leopard day. Meow.