Mac OS X 10.5.3 moving along, on course with iPhone 2.0?
Apple continues to plug away at the next maintenance and service update to Mac OS X Leopard, which may be on track for a release around the same time as the company's iPhone software v2.0, according to one tipster.
People familiar with ongoing tests of Mac OS X 10.5.3 say a new build was released privately to developers on Wednesday carrying build number 9D32 and packing a half dozen more code corrections.
Among those improvements are tweaks to the performance of certain graphics drivers and fixes to parental controls, wireless certificates, and screen sharing, those people say. The latest additions bring the running total of fixes expected as part of the release to a staggering 220.
For the second time in as many weeks, Apple is also reported to have slightly expanded the focus area for developers by asking that they aggressively test Leopard's Spotlight search feature in addition to the 14 other core components listed alongside build 9D29 last Wednesday.
Again, the Mac maker lists no known issues with the 416MB update, as has been the case for several weeks.
While previous expectations would have software nearing a formal release by next week, a rumor sent to AppleInsider and other Apple news sites suggests that Apple may have placed Mac OS X 10.5.3 on a development course similar to iPhone Software v2.0, which is due at the end of June.
The unconfirmed tip goes on assert that the two pieces of software would be released within a week of each other and also include some contingencies on .Mac, which would reportedly be offered at a discount early adopters of the company's upcoming 3G iPhone. Again, the tip is unconfirmed.
Meanwhile, Apple is simultaneously working on Mac OS X 10.5.3 Server, which upon last check had reach build 9D28. The release currently bundles just over four dozen fixes and maintains a core focus area of 20 components.
People familiar with ongoing tests of Mac OS X 10.5.3 say a new build was released privately to developers on Wednesday carrying build number 9D32 and packing a half dozen more code corrections.
Among those improvements are tweaks to the performance of certain graphics drivers and fixes to parental controls, wireless certificates, and screen sharing, those people say. The latest additions bring the running total of fixes expected as part of the release to a staggering 220.
For the second time in as many weeks, Apple is also reported to have slightly expanded the focus area for developers by asking that they aggressively test Leopard's Spotlight search feature in addition to the 14 other core components listed alongside build 9D29 last Wednesday.
Again, the Mac maker lists no known issues with the 416MB update, as has been the case for several weeks.
While previous expectations would have software nearing a formal release by next week, a rumor sent to AppleInsider and other Apple news sites suggests that Apple may have placed Mac OS X 10.5.3 on a development course similar to iPhone Software v2.0, which is due at the end of June.
The unconfirmed tip goes on assert that the two pieces of software would be released within a week of each other and also include some contingencies on .Mac, which would reportedly be offered at a discount early adopters of the company's upcoming 3G iPhone. Again, the tip is unconfirmed.
Meanwhile, Apple is simultaneously working on Mac OS X 10.5.3 Server, which upon last check had reach build 9D28. The release currently bundles just over four dozen fixes and maintains a core focus area of 20 components.
Comments
What I wonder is, with problems at this level, can't some of these fixes be delivered ahead of the major release? Or can't 10.5.3 be broken into two releases so those of us who have not experienced this kind of buggy behavior with our Macs since the dawn of OSX can have a little relief?
That, and as it is being written as an update, they are easier to integrate all known bugs together, to avoid coding errors (the changes can both be applied to 10.5.2 instead of changing 10.5.2 to 10.5.3 and then 10.5.4 changing that code again)
Basically, change the code as rarely as possible that way each bug fix and change can work off the same platform and cutdown production time.
Piecemeal updates can also intimidating and annoying - e.g. Windows XP fresh install seeing 89+ updates (before the service packs), Office 2004 requiring 11+ individual updaters. (Not picking on Microsoft; these are just issues that come to mind)
Also, I was thinking - what if the new .Mac service was offered free with every iPhone?
I think I'd very much prefer that they tested everything properly before rolling out the updates - there have been some nasty updates leading to data loss, Airport problems etc. After one updater irreversibly hosed Airport on my older Mac, I'm still hesitant to install any of the recent Airport updates.
Piecemeal updates can also intimidating and annoying - e.g. Windows XP fresh install seeing 89+ updates (before the service packs), Office 2004 requiring 11+ individual updaters. (Not picking on Microsoft; these are just issues that come to mind)
Also, I was thinking - what if the new .Mac service was offered free with every iPhone?
I doubt they would do it for free, but a major subsidy, yeah. More integration with .mac offered free would be a tempting idea for apple. Get people onto iPhone, and then offer them a good feature really subsidized, and then that feature works best on macs. Makes sense to do it, tempt people to macs
Piecemeal updating realy doesn't work. The less updates the better.
Its like slowly renovating a house and adding on levels, and building out, until the top is bigger than the bottom. It gets structurally unsound. Some bugs are hidden by other bugs, and so if they wipe out a bug, it may expose 10 more bugs. Better to deal with them all together than doing it separately.
Apple seems to plan one update to the OS per quarter or so, for the first year and then slightly slower from then on. They stick to a plan!
That and people have winged so much about 10.5.2 so much it seems 10.5.3 is being tested far more completely. We barely got word of 10.5.2 before its release, as it was so close to 10.5.1.
We barely got word of 10.5.2 before its release, as it was so close to 10.5.1.
10.5.2 Came out almost 3 months are 10.5.1 and we had endless coverage here of it...
http://www.appleinsider.com/topics/Mac_OS_X_10.5.2.html
I think I'd very much prefer that they tested everything properly before rolling out the updates - there have been some nasty updates leading to data loss, Airport problems etc. After one updater irreversibly hosed Airport on my older Mac, I'm still hesitant to install any of the recent Airport updates.
Piecemeal updates can also intimidating and annoying - e.g. Windows XP fresh install seeing 89+ updates (before the service packs), Office 2004 requiring 11+ individual updaters. (Not picking on Microsoft; these are just issues that come to mind)
Also, I was thinking - what if the new .Mac service was offered free with every iPhone?
I would agree. Usually Apple hits it pretty hard on the head after the x.3 update anyway, its just their modus operandi.
By 10.3.4 and 10.4.4 the lab where I work was confident enough in OSX that we were able to image a single Mac Hard disk and roll it out to over 20 different mac machines without issue, including mac book pros, imacs, etc...
That says a LOT for Apple, I think, because you sure as hell could not image a single windows computer and then re-image that drive on any old windows machine and even expect it to boot, necessarily.
On the desktop Leopard is pretty decent IMHO, but I don't have any WiFi issues (actually Leopard cured my WiFi issues on an Intel Mac mini).
EDIT: Agree with the poster above, the 10.x.3 release is usually the point at which upgrading becomes a no-brainer. It was certainly true with Panter and Tiger (a lot of people have forgotten, or didn't experience, how terrible Tiger was in the 10.4 - 10.4.2 iterations).
Dave
Send an email off to them, and tell them about it.
I didn't know of this issue.
Send an email off to them, and tell them about it.
Don't bother, it's been fixed. It was largely affecting Windows file sharing, according to my source, thus fixing it wasn't a high priority.
There are a lot of balls in the air...let's hope they stay there.
TWSS ;-)
this happens everytime i put the laptop to sleep "closing the lid even for a second" and the waking up. i just lose the connection and takes acouple of minutes trying to get it to connect, for it to work.
it gets embarrassing at times when you're showing your friends your latest macbook pro laptop and it can't do what their old windows laptop can do without a sweat.
hope they bloody fix this soon.
that and the screen dimming problem.
for ref. i have a MacBook Pro 2.5GHz the last rev.
I always found things more accurately with Tiger and the Find... option in the Finder was better overall.
Is it just me?
For those of you that follow Apple and BSD kernel issues I have to wonder if they will have fixed that 25 year old kernel bug in BSD? It is actually impressive that the bug has stayed around as long as it has given how simple it was. If Apple fixes this it will be a good sign that they are keeping core kernel issues under control in a timely manner.
Dave
I'll date myself by saying I have code in several BSD/GNU Unix utilities still sitting around
/usr/bin on all shipping Macs -- one is 25 years old, one is 24, and one is 18 (though derived
from a 22-year-old effort.) It's amazing that anyone would still use this stuff, let alone want to
fix known bugs therein. Nonetheless, it was big fun to show my much younger kids
my name in the copyright credits on every iPhone/iPod touch and AppleTV though!
Because non-kernel code is rather easier to workaround/replace, I'd have to do some
archaeology to see if my bugs still exist, especially one nasty in that quarter-century old
hack which shall remain nameless right now. When I worked at another systems house
(Sun Microsystems), I knew it still remained, but no-one ever reported it, and I guess
they didn't pay me enough to fix it! I'm bad, but the original code was free ...
one the of the main things that keeps bugging me with Mac OS 10.5.2 is the bloody wireless certificates.. i'd have to switch locations acouple of times as well as turning airport on and off a couple of times before it would let me log in at my university network. and despite the fact that i've accepted saved the certificate at my Uni. it keeps on asking me for the password each time it lets me connect.
this happens everytime i put the laptop to sleep "closing the lid even for a second" and the waking up. i just lose the connection and takes acouple of minutes trying to get it to connect, for it to work.
it gets embarrassing at times when you're showing your friends your latest macbook pro laptop and it can't do what their old windows laptop can do without a sweat.
hope they bloody fix this soon.
that and the screen dimming problem.
for ref. i have a MacBook Pro 2.5GHz the last rev.
I have, use, and like, 1Password, a great piece of software. It will, if you like, generate fabulous passwords, or you can use your own. Then it remembers the passwords to every place that needs them. It also has a digital wallet, where you can fill in credit card info, and it will then use that info whenever you like. It puts an icon between the address window and the window for adding a bookmark. When you click on it, then it offers various services
One of the best things it does is for online forms. Put your cursor in the first box, hold down control-option-command-1, and all of the boxes are filled in with your info.