[prob.: from folklore's ‘golden egg’] When used to
describe a magnetic medium (e.g., golden
disk, golden tape),
describes one containing a tested, up-to-spec, ready-to-ship software
version. Compare platinum-iridium. One may also
go gold
, which is the act of releasing a golden version.
The gold color of many CDROMs is a coincidence; this term was well
established a decade before CDROM distribution become common in the
mid-1990s.