Now, we know that the Xserve is sort of a specialty product with a niche-within-a-niche market, but jeez, there must be at least a couple of prospective customers whose heads have caught fire from the inside by now. Not that we Mac fans are anything but patient, of course; remember how long we waited for Motorola to break 500 MHz? And the number of horrifying deaths directly attributable to that delay was astonishing low-- a few hundred, tops.

With the Xserve's G5ification, though, the whole saga's been sort of a protracted tease: Apple unveiled the G5 processor last July, and it was obviously a natural for the Xserve line, but the Power Mac G5 shipped in August and the Xserve stayed G4. Months passed and seasons changed without even a hint of G5-powered Xserves approaching. Finally in January Apple announced the Xserve G5, with a long-overdue ship date of February... and now February's come and gone, G5 Xserves still haven't materialized, patience finally ran out after eight months of waiting, and a couple of people's brains burst into flame. Hey, it happens.

But since it's the second week in March and Apple is now officially over a week late getting those rackable rowdies out the door, the company has been forced to admit the delay-- though, of course, it's entertainingly vague about what the nature of said delay might be. Macworld UK reports that it's received an "official statement" from Apple, which simply informs us all that there's been "an incredible amount of customer interest" in the Xserve G5 "since it was announced at Macworld Expo in January 2004" (of course, the interest goes back waaaaaay further than that, but okay) and that the company is now "working hard to start shipping the new Xserve systems in March 2004, not by the end of February as originally announced."

Gee, and not even a token note of apology to the families of those whose heads went Ghost Rider from waiting too long. Meanwhile, note that saying "we're working hard... to start shipping in March" isn't quite the same thing as saying "we'll ship in March," so it's entirely possible that another "official statement" will need to be issued when the second week of April rolls around, at which point the death toll may frankly start to get a bit embarrassing.

Note also that Apple "declined to offer specific details about the delay," which leaves the door wide open for all sorts of wild and unfounded speculation to start creeping in. (Hallelujah!) Regular viewers will recall that we've previously touched on several theories seeking to explain the absence of Xserve G5s, as well as the continued limbo-bound state of speed-bumped Power Macs (using the same PowerPC 970FX chip that'll be in the Xserves when they finally grace this physical plane of existence) that many rumor hounds have been expecting since New Year's. Is it a cooling problem? A chip shortage? An infestation of murderous leprechauns? Only Apple knows for sure. And the leprechauns.

Hope glimmers on the horizon, however; faithful viewer chollyhead points out that MacRumors hints at a March 23rd intro for faster Power Macs, citing a French MacPlus.org article as its source. (This Babelfish auto-translation is surprisingly decipherable if you don't polly-voo-franzy.) The new Power Macs are rumored to be an all-dual lineup, with processors running at 1.8, 2.2, and 2.4 GHz. Make of that what you will; MacPlus was pretty emphatic about the whole "this is just a rumor" disclaimer, but heck, if it keeps the leprechauns away and your head from going Brain Flambé, more power to you.