I've heard a lot of talk about OS X needing to be updated to a 64-bit OS for the PowerPC 970, and I've also heard a lot of talk that this shouldn't be that hard to do.

Still, I have a hard time imagining that such a change wouldn't constitute a major new version of the OS - 10.3, rather than 10.2.x.

Given that the 970 can run 32-bit code just fine, and that even at 32 bits, the 970 will be a substantial improvement over the G4, would it make sense for Apple, if 10.3 isn't right around the corner, to release new 970-based computers, with only a slightly tweaked OS 10.2.x that simply uses the 970 in 32-bit mode?

I think that would be a good move if it gets us new 970-based systems sooner that we would by waiting for OS 10.3.