Release of Apple's Mac OS X 10.6.3 Update appears imminent
Apple on Thursday provided its developer community with a second private beta of its forthcoming Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard update in as many days, suggesting the software is rapidly approaching a release candidate.
The latest pre-release carries build number 10D572, just one complete compile removed from build 10D571, which was seeded to software developers on Tuesday.
Apple typically seeds external betas of Mac OS X updates at such a rapid frequency only when the software is entering a final candidate stage, or if a serious and potentially-hazardous glitch was discovered with the preceding build.
According to people familiar with Thursday's offering, Apple is now asking developers to focus their testing efforts around Mail, images, security certificates and photos, in addition to graphics drivers and QuickTime, both of which have remained a priority throughout the better part of the beta program.
An emphasis on fonts and iCal that accompanied Tuesday's beta was reportedly dropped with the distribution of build 10D572. Meanwhile, an issue with recurring events in iCal's interaction with Exchange server was repaired.
When it's released shortly, Mac OS X 10.6.3 will bundle an update to QuickTime X that improves security and compatibility while also enhancing overall reliability of the media software.
The Snow Leopard update will also include tweaks that enhance the performance of Apple's 64-bit Logic pro audio suite and deliver better compatibility with third-party printers and OpenGL-grounded applications.
Other fixes baked into the release target issues with mail messages displaying the incorrect background color and problems copying files to a shared Windows volume.
The latest distributions weigh in at just shy of 790MB in Combo Update form and 725MB as a barebones Delta image.
The latest pre-release carries build number 10D572, just one complete compile removed from build 10D571, which was seeded to software developers on Tuesday.
Apple typically seeds external betas of Mac OS X updates at such a rapid frequency only when the software is entering a final candidate stage, or if a serious and potentially-hazardous glitch was discovered with the preceding build.
According to people familiar with Thursday's offering, Apple is now asking developers to focus their testing efforts around Mail, images, security certificates and photos, in addition to graphics drivers and QuickTime, both of which have remained a priority throughout the better part of the beta program.
An emphasis on fonts and iCal that accompanied Tuesday's beta was reportedly dropped with the distribution of build 10D572. Meanwhile, an issue with recurring events in iCal's interaction with Exchange server was repaired.
When it's released shortly, Mac OS X 10.6.3 will bundle an update to QuickTime X that improves security and compatibility while also enhancing overall reliability of the media software.
The Snow Leopard update will also include tweaks that enhance the performance of Apple's 64-bit Logic pro audio suite and deliver better compatibility with third-party printers and OpenGL-grounded applications.
Other fixes baked into the release target issues with mail messages displaying the incorrect background color and problems copying files to a shared Windows volume.
The latest distributions weigh in at just shy of 790MB in Combo Update form and 725MB as a barebones Delta image.
Comments
Please get Quickktime X to work properly for once. And Apple thinks Flash is a CPU hog?
Yeah, QuickTime X is definitely a half-baked idea that wasn't (and still isn't) ready for prime time.
I still prefer to use QT7, even though I'm on Snow Leopard. So much easier to correct aspect ratio simply by holding down the Shift key plus Show Movie Properties menu item.
Quicktime 7 is X times better.
Yeah, QuickTime X is definitely a half-baked idea that wasn't (and still isn't) ready for prime time.
Can you edit out the middle of a quicktime X movie or only trim its ends? Enough said?
Yeah, QuickTime X is definitely a half-baked idea that wasn't (and still isn't) ready for prime time.
It's great, except for its indexing of large movie files.
I still prefer to use QT7, even though I'm on Snow Leopard. So much easier to correct aspect ratio simply by holding down the Shift key plus Show Movie Properties menu item.
This is good to know.
I've only just started to use S.L. (10.6.2) and had not even thought about the possibility of loading up my previous QT Pro 7 installer and license.
Thx.
P.S. Can they co-exist peacefully, or should QT 7 completely replace QT X?
If replace, is there a published or preferred method to uninstall QT X?
One major difference between OSX and Windows (even Windows 7 sadly) is that OSX remains snappy even after years of use while Windows gradually gets slower and slower even after maintenance operations. It is that darned registry. When will MS learn from Apple?
This is good to know.
I've only just started to use S.L. (10.6.2) and had not even thought about the possibility of loading up my previous QT Pro 7 installer and license.
Thx.
P.S. Can they co-exist peacefully, or should QT 7 completely replace QT X?
If replace, is there a published or preferred method to uninstall QT X?
They can definitely coexist. I believe if you had Pro installed before upgrading to SL it keeps it automatically. I don't remember being prompted.
Logic 9.1.1 was released today and mentioned 10.6.3 in the release notes.
Does it really matter when 10.6.3 is released? None of you losers will be satisfied anyway. You never are. You'll find something bitch and whine about. You always do.
It must be amazing for a Windows user, but the Mac user community is picky about quality.
Apple acknowledges the fact that QuickTime X is not yet fully capable of replacing QuickTime 7.x by including QuickTime 7 alongside QuickTime X in Snow Leopard. This is no different than Apple allowing Mac OS 9 to run alongside Mac OS X when OS X was first introduced.
If people will remember, Mac OS X 10.0 and 10.1 were in many ways less capable than Mac OS 9. Now Mac OS X has far exceeded what was available in Mac OS 9. QuickTime X is currently less capable than QuickTime 7. But one day it will exceed QuickTime 7.
It also never fails to amaze me that people will call for something to be done only to criticize it when it is actually done. Many people say things like, "If *I* were making <insert well-established program here> I would scrap everything and start over," only to whine and complain when a company does exactly that and it's not feature complete to start with. Then they say, "why did they scrap a perfectly good program to rewrite it from scratch?"
It takes time to start a new software project from scratch. And it will take time for QuickTime X to catch up to 7.x. But my guess is that it will be far easier to add things to QuickTime X than it would be to add them to 7.x.
This is something to look forward too.
One major difference between OSX and Windows (even Windows 7 sadly) is that OSX remains snappy even after years of use while Windows gradually gets slower and slower even after maintenance operations. It is that darned registry. When will MS learn from Apple?
OS X gets slower and slower over time too, it's just not as noticeable as Windows.
To see it, one has to benchmark after every update, using a clean drive with nothing else on it but the basic install. Same RAM, video card etc.
Sometimes a update actually improves performance, but the trend is for it to slow down. If it didn't, Apple couldn't sell you a new box.
OS X gets slower and slower over time too, it's just not as noticeable as Windows.
To see it, one has to benchmark after every update, using a clean drive with nothing else on it but the basic install. Same RAM, video card etc.
Sometimes a update actually improves performance, but the trend is for it to slow down. If it didn't, Apple couldn't sell you a new box.
And your evidence is?