Apple's latest major OS release is said to be nearing golden master candidate status and is rumoured to be preparing to release these to the developer community. Rumoured by TechCrunch, Apple is said to be preparing to release a number of GM candidates to developers.
Specifically, Apple is gearing up to deploy an OS X Lion update to developers that they may be classifying as the "GM1" release, we've heard. "GM" or "Golden Master" is a title reserved for software that is complete. But from what we've heard, this is only the initial Golden Master candidate. In other words, don't get too excited just yet.
As noted by TechCrunch, just because Apple is releasing candidates it does not mean that Mac OS X Lion is set to be released ahead of schedule, what is does mean is that Apple has nearing the end of the development cycle and will enter into a rigorous testing procedure ahead of a formal release in the summer.