Apple begins widespread testing of Mac OS X 10.5.3 Update

[AppleInsider]

Apple Inc. this week began testing Mac OS X 10.5.3 Update, a third maintenance and security update to its relatively new Leopard operating system that already bundles over 75 bug fixes and code corrections.

The Mac maker on Thursday informed its vast developer community of the availability of Mac OS X 10.5.3 Build 9D10, a pre-release copy of the software update featuring a focus list spanning some two dozen core components.

Among those components in need of evaluation, people familiar with the matter tell AppleInsider, are AddressBook, AppleScript, Audio, Back To My Mac, Dashboard, the Dock, DVD Player, Finder, Graphics, iCal, Mail, Portable Home Directories, Printing, Rosetta, Spaces, Spotlight, Time Machine, and VoiceOver.

In a set of developer notes reported to have accommodated the update, Apple is also said to have listed 75 code corrections that have already been baked into this first external build, including two aimed at critical memory leaks within CoreAnimation and iCal.

Other fixes target Dashboard, iCal alarms and syncing, Installer App, Spotlight indexing, PDFs within the Preview App, Mail alarms, Spaces, Stacks and the Dock.

Mac OS X 10.5.3 is presumed for a release sometime in April or May.

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

[PB]

Good. Time to fix DVD playback on Macbooks.

[Carniphage]

Harumph!

No mention of fixing the Airport drivers broken by 10.5.2.

C.

[jsheffie]

How about airport drivers that have never worked right since 10.5.0? I am still waiting on consistent connections on my (Non broadcasted SSID) Netgear and Linksys routers. Can you do this for me please Apple?

[Royboy]

What about the forced restart after sleep issue?

[Haggar]

Will they fix the Finder so it automatically remembers view settings for each folder?

[Virgil-TB2]

I'd be happy if (someday) "Back to My Mac" started working.

I have brand new top-of-the-line Mac computers at both ends, all Mac brand new networking hardware at home and a University based connection to the Internet backbone at work but still "Back to My Mac" just doesn't work. From what I can gather informally, the same is true of about 60% of the people who have tried it.

I must admit, as much as I love Apple products I am quite surprised that we are already talking about the third update to Leopard and yet some of the *primary* promised features of Leopard still don't work for large numbers of Leopard users.

If someone told me this would be the case last year when we were all waiting for Leopard to come out, I would have thought them a bit crazy. Surely Apple would not do that?

[solsun]

Originally Posted by Royboy

What about the forced restart after sleep issue?

If you're speaking of the Mac Pro restart issue, that has been fixed through yesterdays firmware update. Check your software update.

[Cubert]

Anyone out there have it to test? I don't want anyone to break a NDA, but can someone post a few specifics about the fixes?

Thanks.

[Zoc]

Originally Posted by Virgil-TB2

I have brand new top-of-the-line Mac computers at both ends, all Mac brand new networking hardware at home and a University based connection to the Internet backbone at work but still "Back to My Mac" just doesn't work. From what I can gather informally, the same is true of about 60% of the people who have tried it.

If the router at work does not support UPnP or NAT-PNP, which is often the case, because these features may cause security problems, then "back to my mac" cannot and will not work.

You may be able to reach the mac at home from the mac at work, but no chance to reach the mac at work from the mac at home.

This is not a Back To My Mac bug, this is a restriction from the network at work.

[KindredMac]

I want auto spell correction for Mail, Office and any other apps out there, just like on my iPhone!!!

I find while typing an email on my Mac, that when I look up after done typing to see all these misspellings that get taken care of if I were typing the email out on my iPhone....

[Mr. H]

Originally Posted by KindredMac

I want auto spell correction for Mail, Office and any other apps out there, just like on my iPhone!!!

I find while typing an email on my Mac, that when I look up after done typing to see all these misspellings that get taken care of if I were typing the email out on my iPhone....

OS X has had a system-wide spell-checking system from the beginning. Apple's apps, including Mail*, use it; it's up to third-party programmers whether they use Apple's system or not.

* look:

[EagerDragon]

Portable Home Directory?

I was not aware that capability existed today, sweet.

[eAi]

Originally Posted by AppleInsider

In a set of developer notes reported to have accommodated the update.

Don't you mean accompanied?

[Gustav]

Originally Posted by Zoc

If the router at work does not support UPnP or NAT-PNP, which is often the case, because these features may cause security problems, then "back to my mac" cannot and will not work.

You may be able to reach the mac at home from the mac at work, but no chance to reach the mac at work from the mac at home.

This is not a Back To My Mac bug, this is a restriction from the network at work.

Don't assume that is the problem. I have Airport Extreme routers at home and work which both support NAT-PNP and have it turned on, and it still doesn't work for me. From work, I can see my Mac at home, but it just won't connect.

[zunx]

Apple, please, please, please: Disk Utility permission repair, much, much, much faster!!! Thanks.

[Hansii]

Hopefully they will make each space remember which application was active last time that space was used, I hate it when I switch to an empty space and then back and end up having all the finder windows on top of what I was doing.

[JupiterOne]

Originally Posted by Mr. H

OS X has had a system-wide spell-checking system from the beginning. Apple's apps, including Mail*, use it; it's up to third-party programmers whether they use Apple's system or not.

* look:

<snip>

I think the poster is looking for spell correction, not just spell checking. On the iPhone, your misspelled words will actually get corrected for you. I don't see where that's done on the Mac at all.

[Mr. H]

Originally Posted by JupiterOne

I think the poster is looking for spell correction, not just spell checking. On the iPhone, your misspelled words will actually get corrected for you. I don't see where that's done on the Mac at all.

Ah, I see. You mean replacing a miss-spelt word without any user interaction? Yeah, desktop OS X doesn't do that.

[Koolio]

How about fixing the issue where MacBooks don't go into sleep mode when it's connected to an external monitor. Currently, the only way to get it to sleep is to manually do it.

That's a glaring bug that needs to be fixed.

[drk_one]

Originally Posted by jsheffie

How about airport drivers that have never worked right since 10.5.0? I am still waiting on consistent connections on my (Non broadcasted SSID) Netgear and Linksys routers. Can you do this for me please Apple?

I completely agree.

I'm still amazed at how Apple can come out with a product like MacBook Air (which, btw, relies completely on wireless technology) without fixing the existing Airport issues.

I'm using a (relatively new) Intel MacBook running 10.5.2. My newtork consists of ALL Apple hardware; Airport Exreme w/ Gigabit, combined with an Airport Express to extend my network. The connection problems, drop-outs, etc. have been so bad that I've resorted to connecting my MacBook to the AE via a patch cable. It's ridiculous.

The 10.5.2 update, although supposedly corrected this issue, did NOTHING for me.

Apple... please:

1. Focus your attention on the issues of your existing customer base; your LOYAL, existing customer base. Chase after new customers once you've satisfied us, and...

2. STOP working to improve applications like Address Book. For God's sake... there are more important issues that you should be attending to.

I'm sorry, but MacBook Air is nothing without wireless technology that works. Put that thing back in the manilla envelope that you show in your commercials and mail it to someone who cares.

[uberjason]

How about fixing this one apple, when viewing/listening to a dvd/cd from a shared itunes library via front row, the artwork (CD covers/DVD Box Art) is blank. This worked in the leopard betas' but never has worked since release. I thought Apple was all about the experience, I guess they don't care about Front Row and shared libraries.

-Uberjason

[SpamSandwich]

[QUOTE=Mr. H;1234861]miss-speltE]

[k2director]

It would be nice if Mail's RSS feeds would update reliably.

[tink]

Portable Home Directories.....?


....fianlly?

[Elijahg]

Originally Posted by Koolio

How about fixing the issue where MacBooks don't go into sleep mode when it's connected to an external monitor. Currently, the only way to get it to sleep is to manually do it.

That's a glaring bug that needs to be fixed.

It's not a bug, it's supposed to happen. You can close the lid on your macbook with an external monitor, keyboard and power supply connected, and it'll act like a desktop Mac. The external display will become the main display, and the internal one will be switched off.

[zorinlynx]

Are you sure 10.5 is at fault? Many times wireless networks have problems because of interference caused by things like microwave ovens, 2.4GHz cordless phones, other nearby wireless networks, electrical interference, and so on.

I suggest looking into these possibilities before blaming the operating system. I have had absolutely flawless wireless operation on all the networks I frequent with 10.5.x; heck it's more reliable and the system joins networks much faster than it did with 10.4.

-Z

Originally Posted by drk_one

I completely agree.

I'm still amazed at how Apple can come out with a product like MacBook Air (which, btw, relies completely on wireless technology) without fixing the existing Airport issues.

I'm using a (relatively new) Intel MacBook running 10.5.2. My newtork consists of ALL Apple hardware; Airport Exreme w/ Gigabit, combined with an Airport Express to extend my network. The connection problems, drop-outs, etc. have been so bad that I've resorted to connecting my MacBook to the AE via a patch cable. It's ridiculous.

The 10.5.2 update, although supposedly corrected this issue, did NOTHING for me.

[PaulJohnGriffin]

Also no mention of fixing whatever it is that causes both Safari or Firefox to quit
or lock up several times a day under 10.5.2 on a MacBook.

[mdriftmeyer]

Originally Posted by JupiterOne

I think the poster is looking for spell correction, not just spell checking. On the iPhone, your misspelled words will actually get corrected for you. I don't see where that's done on the Mac at all.

Here's a thought: When you see the spell check, take it to memory and learn to spell.

The spell correction seems more targeted towards texting messages in a hurry and that's great, but when I'm writing a report I don't want the system wasting cycles constantly attempting to fix my writing, especially if I'm not using the system-wide hyphenation package [LaTeX comes to mind], et.al.

[scampercom]

Originally Posted by PaulJohnGriffin

Also no mention of fixing whatever it is that causes both Safari or Firefox to quit
or lock up several times a day under 10.5.2 on a MacBook.

It's not just Macbooks. I have a MacPro (with the latest everything, but no mods), and Safari quits on me about 5 times a day. Usually it's when I (right click) summon a popup menu, but occasionally it's spontaneous.

"Reopen All Windows From Last Session" is my best friend.

[Achiever]

Originally Posted by scampercom

It's not just Macbooks. I have a MacPro (with the latest everything, but no mods), and Safari quits on me about 5 times a day. Usually it's when I (right click) summon a popup menu, but occasionally it's spontaneous.

"Reopen All Windows From Last Session" is my best friend.

It's likely Safari's inability to render Flash very well. In all likelihood the Safari crashes, regardless of machine, video card, processor, etc., are on websites that use a lot of Flash or Flash plug ins.

[schmidm77]

I just hope they can finally figure out how to not have the dock pop up into view after a few minutes of QuickTime player being put into fullscreen mode. This is extremely annoying.

[ThunkDifferent.com]

Thanks for the update, I've heard April - It will be welcome. I like Leopard, but it is not as stable as tiger seemed to be. The OS also kills the RAM on my 1 gig ram macbook.

anyone else notice that this could be sped up? Let's get some 10.5.2 vs. 10.5.3 benchmarks in the house!

Thunk Different

[ntrembat]

Originally Posted by JupiterOne

I think the poster is looking for spell correction, not just spell checking. On the iPhone, your misspelled words will actually get corrected for you. I don't see where that's done on the Mac at all.

Office 2008 does correct as you type. <- see?

[Nano_tube]

Originally Posted by scampercom

It's not just Macbooks. I have a MacPro (with the latest everything, but no mods), and Safari quits on me about 5 times a day. Usually it's when I (right click) summon a popup menu, but occasionally it's spontaneous.

"Reopen All Windows From Last Session" is my best friend.

Happens on a Power Mac G5 too (10.5.2).
It especially happens when a page loads a video.
Safari crashes much more often then on Tiger.

[Virgil-TB2]

Originally Posted by Zoc

If the router at work does not support UPnP or NAT-PNP, which is often the case, because these features may cause security problems, then "back to my mac" cannot and will not work.

You may be able to reach the mac at home from the mac at work, but no chance to reach the mac at work from the mac at home.

This is not a Back To My Mac bug, this is a restriction from the network at work.

Actually, I have the reverse problem.

After much long, tedious troubleshooting I found a way (not mentioned on the Apple troubleshooting site), to get my Mac at work to show up from home. It's the home Mac that won't show up at work, and my home has a brand new Time Machine connected to my brand new Mac Pro and both have all the latest software and all the correct settings.

It could of course be something the University is doing on the network, but I have no way to know what to even ask about. The point is that *someone* (and by that I mean someone at Apple), should really have some idea what the problems are by now. The most frustrating thing about the whole issue is the very scanty information that Apple is giving out about it. Mostly they just quote a list of old routers that won't work, and that shite about UPnP which is like, the very first thing I checked months ago.

I'm sure there is a whole list of reasons why it won't work and also situations in which it can't work, but whatever they are, Apple is not telling anyone. That kind of sucks considering .Mac is a paid service. I blame the whole thing on the fact that Apple is hugely understaffed right now and flailing about madly trying to do the work of a much larger company.

[displaced]

Address Book?

Fingers-crossed that Apple restore full Bluetooth phone integration. This was a great feature of OS X right from the early days, but was removed from Leopard with no explanation.

3rd-party tools such as BluePhoneElite are poor replacements – I've never had BPE work reliably with my phone. The return of complete BT support in Address Book, with one-click dialling, SMS texting and instant notification on incoming calls and messages would be excellent.

[MsNly]

Originally Posted by zunx

Apple, please, please, please: Disk Utility permission repair, much, much, much faster!!! Thanks.

Yes, it is soo annoying, I have even sent complaints.

[orange whip]

with any luck 10.5.3 will also elevate 10.5 server from the status of crapware to software.

the issue with OSX 10.5 server at the moment is that it fails to perform its basic function which is to serve files in a cross platform environment. Therefore they cannot call it a server........

[artistry]

Originally Posted by solsun

If you're speaking of the Mac Pro restart issue, that has been fixed through yesterdays firmware update. Check your software update.

I took this to mean the problem on Macbook Pros where the screen remains black after waking from sleep. I've had to reinstall OSX twice now - the problem aparently is in a recent graphics update. If you've not been afflicted with this, you're lucky!