Apple confirmed that Mac OS X Leopard will go on sale Friday, October 26 at 6:00 p.m. at Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers, and that Apple’s online store is now accepting pre-orders for the software. Apple posted a splashy update on their Web site this morning to announce that the next major upgrade to the operating system–Mac OS 10.5 (a.k.a. “Leopard“)–will be released on Friday 26 October 2007.Apple is taking pre-orders for the US$129 upgrade (US$199 family pack) with free shipping for delivery on 26 October.