Apple’s latest revision to the Mac OS, Mac OS X 10.3 (Panther) has hit “Gold Master” status, according to The Register. This means that the software has exited the beta stage and is now ready for mass production. In light of this, the Web site reports that it expects Panther to go on sale to consumers later this month. Apple CEO Steve Jobs did not give a confirmed ship date for the new OS at his recent keynote address at Apple Expo Paris, but simply reaffirmed that it would ship before the end of this year.