Apple to pinpoint testing criteria alongside new Leopard build

[AppleInsider]

With a self-imposed October release deadline quickly approaching, Apple Inc. this weekend will provide its developer community with yet another pre-release build of its next-generation Leopard operating system, AppleInsider has learned.

Along with the new build -- expected to be labeled Mac OS X Leopard build 9A527 -- the Cupertino-based company will ask that developers extensively test and report back on approximately fifteen of the software's key component areas, people familiar with the matter have said.

Among these target testing areas are Parental Controls, Time Machine, DVD Installations, Network Connectivity, Printing, FileVault, Mail, iChat, iCal, .Mac Synching, and Spotlight. For each of these areas, and others, Apple will reportedly provide specific testing criteria for developers to follow.

For example, Apple will reportedly recommend that developers set custom Time Machine preferences and then back up their system to either an internal partition or external drive. They'll then be asked to test that those backups as if in a real-world scenario -- opening specific applications, such as AddressBook, and attempting to recover specific contacts.

Those people familiar with the matter say Apple will also request extensive testing of Time Machine's encrypted backup functionality, Mail's 'notes' and 'To Do' items, and iChat's file transfer function.

For its part, Apple also has several known issues with Leopard left to tackle before it can begin seeding final candidate builds. Among these are issues with sluggish font validation, problems AddressBook synching, and installation issues with systems that utilize a SCSI PCI host adapter card.

Apple, which recently provided developers with Leopard build 9A500n, has said that it hopes to ship a final version of the software in October.

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

[josephwinters]

I can't wait....

[melgross]

They seem to be getting some problems out of the way. Hopefully, they can close the book in some areas, and concentrate personnel on those remaining.

[michaelb]

I wonder if it will be another 6.7 GB .dmg download, or a software update a la 9A500n.

I guess if 9A527 has substantial changes, the full image.

Better unthrottle the bandwidth choke.

[spiggott]

So far, nothing available in Software Update on 9A500n. The DMG is 6.4 GB.

[KAD]

Originally Posted by josephwinters

I can't wait....

Me neither. As soon as Leopard comes out, I'm goin to pick up my first Mac ever. A 2.4GHz iMac 20"!! It's hard to wait, but I think it'll be worth it.

[Fairly]

Just drop the "next generation" bull. Just call it "operating system". You're so wearisome with all that hype. People drink the Kool-Aid anyway.

[Cubert]

OK. It's an operating system. A kick @$$ operating system, Fairly.

[rychencop]

Originally Posted by Fairly

Just drop the "next generation" bull. Just call it "operating system". You're so wearisome with all that hype. People drink the Kool-Aid anyway.

Yeah I agree...a "next gen" release would be named OS 11 / OS XI anyway...this is just a major update.

[jdhouse4]

I guess firstly one must define what they mean by next gen. But if a new Finder and some pretty deep kernel changes isn't next-gen, then one will be sadly disappointed for years to come. As for OS XI, or whatever it will be called, and its next-gen moniker, it will be built on existing technology...unless there are some aliens that can give us a hand.

[ascii]

I think people appreciate the underlying Unix changes and the new user level technologies such as Time Machine and Finder update. The new Xcode also looks really good if you're a developer.

What is disappointing is what they're doing with the GUI. After 5 years people wanted something fresh and new. What they got was lots of minor changes mostly for the worse. And some of the changes seem to be imitating Vista, which (it is coming to light) is not being much of a success. I would want to look as different to it as possible just to avoid getting any stink on me.

[kim kap sol]

Originally Posted by ascii

I think people appreciate the underlying Unix changes and the new user level technologies such as Time Machine and Finder update. The new Xcode also looks really good if you're a developer.

What is disappointing is what they're doing with the GUI. After 5 years people wanted something fresh and new. What they got was lots of minor changes mostly for the worse. And some of the changes seem to be imitating Vista, which (it is coming to light) is not being much of a success. I would want to look as different to it as possible just to avoid getting any stink on me.

Quite the contrary...they're going back to what was probably the best look and feel: the uniform and unobtrusive dark platinum look in OS 8 and OS 9 (probably retaining a bit of Aqua such as the traffic light window widgets) and back to the much recognizable flat greyish-blue folders from System 7 (this is big because these folders are much more visible at smaller sizes and can be watermarked with a logo much more easily than the with the current ugly and angled Aqua folders).

You may be disappointed that it isn't the look you had in mind, but it *is* a fresh new look and one that borrows some of the better GUI ideas from Apple's past.

The Dock is a bit weird, I'll admit but the rest is brilliant. Of course, these are just my opinions and you can disagree with what I've said but I never believed the hype that ThinkSecret had created about a new GUI...so I wasn't expecting huge changes, just refinements...and that's what Leopard got. A fresh new look that isn't too alien but brings back uniformity and less eye-candy distractions (except maybe for the Dock.)

[steviet02]

Originally Posted by melgross

They seem to be getting some problems out of the way. Hopefully, they can close the book in some areas, and concentrate personnel on those remaining.

I don't think you can read that from this update. The list of things that don't work or are limited is fairly lengthy. My guess is they have shut some modules/code off so they can narrow down where bugs are hiding.

[ascii]

Originally Posted by kim kap sol

Quite the contrary...they're going back to what was probably the best look and feel: the uniform and unobtrusive dark platinum look in OS 8 and OS 9 (probably retaining a bit of Aqua such as the traffic light window widgets) and back to the much recognizable flat greyish-blue folders from System 7 (this is big because these folders are much more visible at smaller sizes and can be watermarked with a logo much more easily than the with the current ugly and angled Aqua folders).

Yes, I have OS 9 running on SheepShaver and just started it up to see if I could see what you're talking about. The Leopard folders are certainly closer to OS 9 than Tiger ones (actually they're closer still to OS 7).

Actually the thing that strikes me about OS 9 is that it uses nice small fonts everywhere, whereas OS X uses bigger ones. It makes OS 9 look professional and OS X look like a children's book.

Also OS 9 will use text on a button to tell you what it does. OS X will use an icon, and because a picture can have several interpretations you have to hover over it and read the tooltip to know exactly what it will do. Which is inefficient.

[kim kap sol]

Originally Posted by ascii

Yes, I have OS 9 running on SheepShaver and just started it up to see if I could see what you're talking about. The Leopard folders are certainly closer to OS 9 than Tiger ones (actually they're closer still to OS 7).

Yes...that's what I said.

Actually the thing that strikes me about OS 9 is that it uses nice small fonts everywhere, whereas OS X uses bigger ones. It makes OS 9 look professional and OS X look like a children's book.

Are you still using OS X on decade old 72ppi monitors? Maybe that's your problem.

Also OS 9 will use text on a button to tell you what it does. OS X will use an icon, and because a picture can have several interpretations you have to hover over it and read the tooltip to know exactly what it will do. Which is inefficient.

Where? You're inefficient, methinks.

[lundy]

6.5 GB.

Safari crashes repeatedly
Spotlight crashed building the index
USB Overdrive crashed (never seen that before in all these years)
Flip4Mac installs, but Safari doesn't use it.
Finder hesitates in column view when filling in a column
Disk Utility marks Tiger disks as bad, whereas Tiger Disk Utility sees them as OK
QuicKeys won't run

[onlyouknow]

Originally Posted by ascii
I think people appreciate the underlying Unix changes and the new user level technologies such as Time Machine and Finder update. The new Xcode also looks really good if you're a developer.

What is disappointing is what they're doing with the GUI. After 5 years people wanted something fresh and new. What they got was lots of minor changes mostly for the worse. And some of the changes seem to be imitating Vista, which (it is coming to light) is not being much of a success. I would want to look as different to it as possible just to avoid getting any stink on me.

apple is not imitating vista...if you can clearly see the way vista is setup is a mock of mac os x 10.4 and the features that it has came with for years before that OS...such as expose, dashboard, and widgets...anyone can obviously see that microsoft was in such a rush to get vista out there it has so many bugs and flaws...maybe you should read the article stated above how apple is testing every feature familiar with its customers...if they were imitating vista which they're are definitely not, they wouldn't be working so hard and post dating the release of the "NEXT GENERATION"....

[kim kap sol]

Originally Posted by lundy

6.5 GB.

Safari crashes repeatedly
Spotlight crashed building the index
USB Overdrive crashed (never seen that before in all these years)
Flip4Mac installs, but Safari doesn't use it.
Finder hesitates in column view when filling in a column
Disk Utility marks Tiger disks as bad, whereas Tiger Disk Utility sees them as OK
QuicKeys won't run

I stopped reading after USB Overdrive.

[ascii]

Originally Posted by kim kap sol

Where? You're inefficient, methinks.

Ooh... that really makes sense.

[webmail]

It sounds like after you installed, you dragged all your preferences back into the new copy of the software.

I did this and had all the problems you mentioned. However after a clean install, without dragging preferences over, EVERYTHING on your list works perfectly without crashes or errors. Apple disabled the migration assistant and the ability to archive and import settings for this very reason.

Originally Posted by kim kap sol

I stopped reading after USB Overdrive.

[bitzandbitez]

Originally Posted by onlyouknow

apple is not imitating vista...if you can clearly see the way vista is setup is a mock of mac os x 10.4 and the features that it has came with for years before that OS...such as expose, dashboard, and widgets...anyone can obviously see that microsoft was in such a rush to get vista out there it has so many bugs and flaws...maybe you should read the article stated above how apple is testing every feature familiar with its customers...if they were imitating vista which they're are definitely not, they wouldn't be working so hard and post dating the release of the "NEXT GENERATION"....

The big evil "M"-pire is always tryin to take a bite out of the APPLE, too bad they never ever actually succeed; because- let's face it imitation is the best form of flattery and 'since Microsoft never ever 'creates' anything, they just BUYout the company they like or want to shut down, then put their name on it. They also continue to build bad code over existing bad code-so they will never ever catch up to OS X ....

its insulting to read someones ignorant comments about Apple OS X being ANYTHING like Microsoft's VISTA... get your facts straight or rent and watch the movie 'Pirates of Silicon Valley' or read the book 'Fire in the Valley' then re-post your comments here- just in case u didn't know what the VISTA acronym stands for, i tell you what i think should mean;

VISTA = Viruses Inevitable Stick To Apple

Oh, by the way just in case no one's been paying attention Apple has increased its market share to something like 17 percent up from 12 percent a year ago and Dell & HP have been losing...what does that tell you???....

APPLE true blue member since '84 & proud owner of a new Macbook Pro (LED)-bitzandbitez

[lundy]

VISTA = Viruses Inevitable Stick To Apple

Heh. I like that.

MS bashing is welcome here, just no bashing of other posters.

[lundy]

Originally Posted by webmail

It sounds like after you installed, you dragged all your preferences back into the new copy of the software.

I did this and had all the problems you mentioned. However after a clean install, without dragging preferences over, EVERYTHING on your list works perfectly without crashes or errors. Apple disabled the migration assistant and the ability to archive and import settings for this very reason.

Nope, just an Archive and Install as the seed note says you can do.

I do plan to clean install before sending in all these bug reports - if they all come from the install process, I can save a lot of time.

[kim kap sol]

Originally Posted by ascii

Ooh... that really makes sense.

I'm simply spouting out the same nonsense you're spouting.

And instead of providing examples of OS 9 buttons with text and OS X equivalent with icons you decide to leave the rest of the post blank...BRILLIANT! Don't worry though...I would have done the same thing. When I got nothing to back up my claims, I usually ignore the subject until it fades from everyone's memory.

[melgross]

Originally Posted by steviet02

I don't think you can read that from this update. The list of things that don't work or are limited is fairly lengthy. My guess is they have shut some modules/code off so they can narrow down where bugs are hiding.

They aren't asking developers to check as many areas as before. I would assume that means they are satisfied that others areas have been pinned down.