Apple Accelerates Mac OS X 10.5.5 Seeding (9F17)

[MacRumors]

http://www.macrumors.com/images/macrumorsthreadlogo.gif (http://www.macrumors.com)

Apple has accelerated the Mac OS X 10.5.5 seeding with build 9F17 delivered to developers last night. The latest build still lists no known issues and provides fixes for iCal, Mail Sync, Back to My Mac and Core Animation.

While difficult to predict when Apple will release this version to the public, accelerated releases with "no known issues" tend to be signs of an impending release.

Apple last updated (http://www.macrumors.com/2008/06/30/apple-releases-mac-os-x-10-5-4/) Mac OS X with version 10.5.4 on June 30th, 2008. The next release will be a free update and is expected to incorporate over a hundred bug fixes.

Article Link (http://www.macrumors.com/2008/08/19/apple-accelerates-mac-os-x-10-5-5-seeding-9f17/)

[thejadedmonkey]

Awesome, hopefully this fixes my issue with iCal where sometimes I can't use the buttons on the toolbar in the top.

[dual64bit]

This is good, I think there are still some minor bugs lingering that most will be pleased when resolved. Looking forward to 10.5.5!

[amac4me]

Once 10.5.5 is released, we may get insight into upcoming Mac models!

It's not uncommon for Apple to include references to unreleased Mac models in new builds of the operating system.

[olliebraves20]

I'm hoping that this will finally alleviate most of the new OS bugs....it seems to have taken Leopard a longer period of time to get to the completely stable state....I guess that is why the next one is Snow Leopard....just going to fix up and polish the OS...

[Deerhunter04]

Does anybody know what they fixed in Mail? Mail is always crashing on me from Gmail's IMAP.

[dolphin842]

Awesome, hopefully this fixes my issue with iCal where sometimes I can't use the buttons on the toolbar in the top.

I have a friend who has that issue as well, though I've not seen it myself. Let's hope that these types of 'glitchy' interface bugs get squashed sooner rather than later.

[MojoWill]

im sure this will fix some bugs but vreate a fair few aswell! At least its not Vista! :D

[ayeying]

wasnt 10.5.5 the version where apple said its not recommended to install on a intel graphics card? has that been fixed btw?

[BWhaler]

I was saying this morning that I hope Apple takes the next 12-18 months and really focuses on quality. With Vista and the momentum they have in the market right now, they don't need crazy new products to keep growing. What Apple needs is quality.

The opposite is sadly true. If Apple keeps putting out innovative hardware that have the quality problems--heat, screens, build, batteries, etc.--and keeps shipping early beta software and pretends it is ready for customers, Apple's growth will stagnate and ultimately Apple will become niche again.

I would love to see Apple put the hold on "newness" and make OS X, iPhone OS, itunes, iWork, and iLife top quality again. There was once a time when "it just worked" was part of the secret formula. Now that the world and the media are finally paying attention to Apple with an open mind about buying their products, it would be epically tragic for Apple to blow it because of their shoddy manufacturing and the apparent policy of knowingly shipping products that are not ready for the market just to hit deadlines. (Yes, I am saying there is no way people at Apple did not know of these issues.)

The truth of the matter is this: Apple has been shipping beta products for the past two years and then fixing the issues in the market. Whether it is the massive bug fixes in Leopard or the rapid iteration of motherboards in the MacBooks to stop the computers from doing sudden safety shut downs due to the heat, Apple has been knowingly shipping products that are not commercial quality.

The good news is Apple got humiliated pulling these stunts with Steve's hot project, the iPhone. If this had been FileMaker or the Xserve, these games would have gone on forever.

But now Apple has a huge black eye in the major press about the iPhone's hardware and software and mobileme, and the blood in the water is quickly pointing the mainstream media to the other problems with their computer hardware and software.

And the bad news is Apple can't react fast enough. These aren't quick fixes. These are serious bug patches, re-designs, and working with Chinese factory owners to get the quality up.

Most importantly, this is a culture fix. Like the US car companies which let shoddy quality become a cultural norm, Apple must now change its culture so that its teams do not allow beta products to ship just because of a management deadline. Once a culture of quality is lost in an organization, it is almost impossible to get back--just ask Ford, GM, et al.

I love Apple's products, but these are dangerous times for the company. The decisions Steve and his team make now will dramatically impact Apple's future over the next decade or two.

I just hope Apple's leadership is not dumb enough to believe the "only 2% of users were effected" BS from middle management. That type of big company thinking will be the end of Apple.

[WalrusCP]

wasnt 10.5.5 the version where apple said its not recommended to install on a intel graphics card? has that been fixed btw?

The original release to testers was, yes. That is no longer an issue with the latest builds.

[rockinrocker]

at last maybe my custom dock icons will work right...

[commander.data]

wasnt 10.5.5 the version where apple said its not recommended to install on a intel graphics card? has that been fixed btw?
That was only for the first seed. It's no longer a problem.

Hopefully the delay in releasing 10.5.5 Intel graphics drivers means they have seen significant work.

http://developer.apple.com/graphicsimaging/opengl/capabilities/

It's kind of disappointing that with Intel IGPs already being underpowered, Apple's drivers seen to cripple them further by not supporting all their features. The GMA 950 is capable of OpenGL 1.4 and the GMA X3100 is capable of OpenGL 1.5, while Apple's drivers for both only support OpenGL 1.2.

Apple's drivers also don't seem to support OpenGL 2.1 on the HD 2xxx and nVidia 8k series even though the hardware supports it and Leopard was marketed as incorporating OpenGL 2.1 support.

If the drivers in 10.5.5 are improved, it would explain why we are still waiting for the Mac versions of Gears of War, UT3, and CoD4.

[juice831]

looking forward to this

[jpine]

I'm hoping that this will finally alleviate most of the new OS bugs....it seems to have taken Leopard a longer period of time to get to the completely stable state....I guess that is why the next one is Snow Leopard....just going to fix up and polish the OS...

Hey, aren't we running a little short on big cats?:rolleyes:

[min_t]

When have the updates not been free? Do you know something that we don't, like Apple announcing charging for future updates?

[goinskiing]

When have the updates not been free? Do you know something that we don't, like Apple announcing charging for future updates?

That would just be plain dumb if they ever did that IMO.

[HyperZboy]

LEOPARD IS BUGGIEST MAC OS SINCE 10.2....

A Few Requests....

How about better PowerPC support, less kernel panics?

How about fixing all the graphics card issues reported at Apple Discussions?
Seriously, how is it that an ATI Radeon 9800 or Apple Radeon 9600 or (a list of others at Apple Discussions) video cards work fine in Mac OS X Tiger, yet fail or artifact in Mac OS X Leopard in Powermac G4 & G5 towers? This is a constant problem that must be fixed and still hasn't even at 10.5.4!!! That's very sad.

How about being able to click on a folder in the dock & have it open as an, ummmm, ya know, just a DAMN FOLDER!?!?!?!?! GRRRRRRR

As it stands now, if you have a PowerPC Mac and have lots of games, don't bother upgrading to Leopard. You'll stand a very high risk of just bricking your Mac gaming experience. And I have several PowerPC Macs, so I know what i'm talking about and have already ruined 2 Radeon 9800 cards with Leopard that ran fine in Tiger.

[uly]

Awesome, hopefully this fixes my issue with iCal where sometimes I can't use the buttons on the toolbar in the top.

Ditto. Apple introduced that bug in 10.5.3 or 10.5.4. It happens when you press the red close button in iCal, then come back to it and try to press the top Today/View buttons and find they're disabled.

Hard to believe such a visible bug would pass their QA.

[FJ218700]

A Few Requests....

How about being able to click on a folder in the dock & have it open as an, ummmm, ya know, just a DAMN FOLDER!?!?!?!?! GRRRRRRR


command-click dude

[iMacmatician]

Any signs of "MacBookPro5,1," "MacBookPro1,2," or anything like that?

Any signs of GMA X4500 or new GPUs?

[Kilamite]

Looking forward to this. Hopefully it'll sort out some of the fan issues that I'm having.

[Amdahl]

command-click dude

That doesn't work. The only way it works (as the original poster requested) is with empty folders.

[koko76]

That doesn't work. The only way it works (as the original poster requested) is with empty folders.

Uh, I just CMD-clicked the folders in my dock, and presto, opened in a folder. My applications, and documents folders are far from empty.

[Kilamite]

Uh, I just CMD-clicked the folders in my dock, and presto, opened in a folder. My applications, and documents folders are far from empty.

For me, it opens the location of the folder, not the actual folder itself.

[eji]

I hope this addresses the bugs I've experienced with the Finder. In list view especially the performance gets extra sluggish at times -- often to the point where I have to wait a good 60 seconds for a folder to expand or relaunch the Finder altogether.

I think it might be a Quick Look glitch; whatever the cause, it's my biggest gripe with Leopard and makes it unpleasant to use from time to time.

[BRLawyer]

LEOPARD IS BUGGIEST MAC OS SINCE 10.2....

A Few Requests....

How about better PowerPC support, less kernel panics?

How about fixing all the graphics card issues reported at Apple Discussions?
Seriously, how is it that an ATI Radeon 9800 or Apple Radeon 9600 or (a list of others at Apple Discussions) video cards work fine in Mac OS X Tiger, yet fail or artifact in Mac OS X Leopard in Powermac G4 & G5 towers? This is a constant problem that must be fixed and still hasn't even at 10.5.4!!! That's very sad.

How about being able to click on a folder in the dock & have it open as an, ummmm, ya know, just a DAMN FOLDER!?!?!?!?! GRRRRRRR

As it stands now, if you have a PowerPC Mac and have lots of games, don't bother upgrading to Leopard. You'll stand a very high risk of just bricking your Mac gaming experience. And I have several PowerPC Macs, so I know what i'm talking about and have already ruined 2 Radeon 9800 cards with Leopard that ran fine in Tiger.

Leopard has been perfect for me and there are NO bugs or problems to report at this moment...in fact, everything is absolutely smooth since at least 10.5.3.

Those complaining of "shoddy quality" because of some specific conflict that they might have seem to disregard the fact that millions of other Mac users are just enjoying the best OS on this planet without any noticeable issues.

[Peace]

For me, it opens the location of the folder, not the actual folder itself.

Why don't you just right click on the folder and select "open documents folder" ?

[batitombo]

I hope they fix the problem with MBP 8600GT graphic problem with World of Warcraft, I really don't want to downgrade to 10.5.2.

[Kilamite]

Why don't you just right click on the folder and select "open documents folder" ?

It's awkward! Much quicker and efficient to not have to right-click and find a menu. Especially if this is something that you use frequently.

[Peace]

It's awkward! Much quicker and efficient to not have to right-click and find a menu. Especially if this is something that you use frequently.

So you prefer keystrokes over right clicking. I can respect that.

If you use spaces just have the documents folder open in a space and assign that space a keystroke.

Like cmd-1.

That takes you right to the already open documents folder.

[Kilamite]

So you prefer keystrokes over right clicking. I can respect that.

If you use spaces just have the documents folder open in a space and assign that space a keystroke.

Like cmd-1.

That takes you right to the already open documents folder.

Clever idea. But I'd rather Apple just gave us the option to open a folder from the Dock without right-clicking and opening it from a menu or using the Spaces alternative.

To be honest, I actually use Spotlight most of the time to open folders.

[THX1139]

LEOPARD IS BUGGIEST MAC OS SINCE 10.2....

A Few Requests....

How about better PowerPC support, less kernel panics?

How about fixing all the graphics card issues reported at Apple Discussions?
Seriously, how is it that an ATI Radeon 9800 or Apple Radeon 9600 or (a list of others at Apple Discussions) video cards work fine in Mac OS X Tiger, yet fail or artifact in Mac OS X Leopard in Powermac G4 & G5 towers? This is a constant problem that must be fixed and still hasn't even at 10.5.4!!! That's very sad.

How about being able to click on a folder in the dock & have it open as an, ummmm, ya know, just a DAMN FOLDER!?!?!?!?! GRRRRRRR

As it stands now, if you have a PowerPC Mac and have lots of games, don't bother upgrading to Leopard. You'll stand a very high risk of just bricking your Mac gaming experience. And I have several PowerPC Macs, so I know what i'm talking about and have already ruined 2 Radeon 9800 cards with Leopard that ran fine in Tiger.

How about getting a new computer? Seriously, PPC is a dead platform on the Mac due to progress. Get over it. If you need a gaming machine, then try Playstation, PSP, or just get a Windows box and be done with it. Macs are not known for being the best when it comes to gaming. But you knew that... right?

By the way, I can't help to notice how you're still going off on tyrants and over-reacting to everything. It's been said before, but you really should cut back on the coffee! Use the money from coffee to save for a new computer and it will solve both of your problems.

[UWUTengineer]

Any chance this update will extend address book - google contacts sychronization for those w/o iphones or ipod touch (a la 10.5.3 I believe)? I recall address book being one of the apps that was being dealt with in this release. If not now, any ideas as to if and/or when?

[ArtOfWarfare]

I wonder if the dock's labels will finally be fixed in 10.5.5.

Has anyone else been having issues where after waking their computer up, the dock labels will suddenly disappear making it impossible to read the names? Oh, and if you try opening a fan stack after that, the icons will be missing in addition to the label making it impossible to open anything unless you have the positions for all the applications memorized.

Oh... and about iCal's inactive buttons... I've been having that issue with Interface Builder, Xcode, Dashcode, and a few windowed games. I don't use iCal much so I don't know if it happens there or not... I imagine it does.

Here's to hoping Leopard is finally flawless (or at least there's no glaringly obvious if minor flaws,) in 10.5.5.

[Dmac77]

Is it just me, or is Apple pushing out the 10.5.x releases faster then they did for the earlier releases of OS X?

Don

[SandynJosh]

Once 10.5.5 is released, we may get insight into upcoming Mac models!

It's not uncommon for Apple to include references to unreleased Mac models in new builds of the operating system.

Shhhhhhh.....Steve is listening.

[twoodcc]

looking forward to the iCal fixes

[Xian Zhu Xuande]

I hope this addresses the bugs I've experienced with the Finder. In list view especially the performance gets extra sluggish at times -- often to the point where I have to wait a good 60 seconds for a folder to expand or relaunch the Finder altogether.
Have you considered some kind of OS re-install?

Whenever one of my Macs really start to act up -- not common, but it happens from time to time, especially considering my habit of upgrading rather than restoring -- I set some time aside to completely restore the system from the ground up. It is always worth the trouble in the end as each time I set it up I do it better than the last time, and in the end I'm left with a system which runs beautifully.

I've had a few clients who had serious trouble with Leopard after upgrading (and one who had trouble out of the box, perhaps do to the way the Apple Store migrated her data). This solved those problems well. If Leopard is babied properly when it is set up, it can run solid as a rock.

[Eric S.]

Is it just me, or is Apple pushing out the 10.5.x releases faster then they did for the earlier releases of OS X?

Right from the start, the pace of Leopard updates has closely tracked that of Panther and Tiger.

10.3.5 came out 9.5 months after 10.3.
10.4.5 came out 9.5 months after 10.4.
Next week it will have been 10 months since 10.5 was released.

Going further back, 10.2.5 came out 7.5 months after 10.2.

[alphaod]

Fast.

[erkster]

I just want them to fix the damned wifi issue.

Since installing 10.5 my Macbook has so much trouble keeping a wifi connection, and I know it is the software, as I have 2 PPC macs that connect fine to the basestations, and when I boot into XP it works fine as well.

I find it ridiculous that such a glaring bug is still to be fixed! :mad:

This once great fanboy is being reduced to XP or a wired connection, neither of which are acceptable for my work.

FIX IT!@!

[Powerbooky]

Is it me, or has the time between each update really become much shorter than with Tiger or Panther?

[gibbz]

Is it me, or has the time between each update really become much shorter than with Tiger or Panther?

See here:

Right from the start, the pace of Leopard updates has closely tracked that of Panther and Tiger.

10.3.5 came out 9.5 months after 10.3.
10.4.5 came out 9.5 months after 10.4.
Next week it will have been 10 months since 10.5 was released.

Going further back, 10.2.5 came out 7.5 months after 10.2.

[Mackan]

This means it's a good chance for updates mac models soon. This new update could probably contain, for example, drivers for new videocards for new notebooks.

Since all other manufacturers have released or announced their Centrino 2 notebooks by now, Apple goes back to being one of the last...

[bryanzak]

It's awkward! Much quicker and efficient to not have to right-click and find a menu. Especially if this is something that you use frequently.

Put an alias to the desired folder in your dock.

That will open the folder with a single click and maintains the folder's icon as well.

[bryanzak]

Anyone know if Diablo II works? (i.e. they added back in 256 support for the few video cards that they removed it from?)

[richard.mac]

Put an alias to the desired folder in your dock.

That will open the folder with a single click and maintains the folder's icon as well.

thats what Apple did in the WWDC 08 keynote when demoing the iPhone SDK to open folders with projects in it.

[Mackan]

Anyone know if Diablo II works? (i.e. they added back in 256 support for the few video cards that they removed it from?)

I don't think Apple cares about it. They don't care about games in general... However, this would give them a chance to show that they care, by adding back the 256 color support so that the popular Fallout/Fallout2/StarCraft/Diablo 2, games, etc will work again.

[Dmac77]

Right from the start, the pace of Leopard updates has closely tracked that of Panther and Tiger.

10.3.5 came out 9.5 months after 10.3.
10.4.5 came out 9.5 months after 10.4.
Next week it will have been 10 months since 10.5 was released.

Going further back, 10.2.5 came out 7.5 months after 10.2.

Thank you. Just seems so fast. Guess it's because I'm still on the "windoze" update calendar.

Don

[Xtremehkr]

I'm really looking forward to Snow Leopard, there have been more than enough really cool new features added, and I still haven't really explored all of them. All of the applications have come a long way since I first started using OSX, right before the time when Apple officially announced the transition away from OS9. Some of the new applications aren't quite as polished as they could be, and OSX has grown significantly. Hopefully Snow Leopard addresses all of those issues and increases the performance, security, and reliability of the OS before focusing on new projects. It's always easier to build upon a strong base, and it helps locate potential problems along the way.

[Eric S.]

This means it's a good chance for updates mac models soon. This new update could probably contain, for example, drivers for new videocards for new notebooks.

Since all other manufacturers have released or announced their Centrino 2 notebooks by now, Apple goes back to being one of the last...

True, if Apple's new Macbooks use Centrino 2. There is considerable speculation that Apple will turn to another chipset, most likely from nVidia.

[seashellz]

YES, BUT 10.5.5 will be out at the latest-just 2 months after 10.5.4-probably any minute

June 30 >10.5.4
Aug 22 >10.5.5 (guess)

it a fast seed w/ NKI

[betomax]

So you prefer keystrokes over right clicking. I can respect that.

If you use spaces just have the documents folder open in a space and assign that space a keystroke.

Like cmd-1.

That takes you right to the already open documents folder.

hmm, just for giggles, I tried cmd-1, cmd-2, etc. to see if those were bound to Spaces (I actually expected nothing at all to happen), instead, it pointed my browser to the bookmarks on my bookmarks toolbar. This is when my browser (recent Webkit build) is the active app. In mail it changes from inbox to sent, etc. There is no default for finder.

Yes, I use ctrl-<arrow key> to navigate Spaces, just thought that cmd-1 would be a cool shortcut to get to screen #1.

I switched nearly 2 years ago and still am learning cool stuff. :)

[Mekgek]

A Few Requests....

How about being able to click on a folder in the dock & have it open as an, ummmm, ya know, just a DAMN FOLDER!?!?!?!?! GRRRRRRR


Amen brother! This is ridiculous

[Neil321]

Here we go again another update & another giant wish list, submit your requests to Apple people then maybe just maybe your wishes may come true

[andy721]

Hurry it up!

[rumormill]

Where exactly are these lists of bugfixes? Does Apple keep them secret or something?

[kaiwai]

I'm hoping that this will finally alleviate most of the new OS bugs....it seems to have taken Leopard a longer period of time to get to the completely stable state....I guess that is why the next one is Snow Leopard....just going to fix up and polish the OS...

From what I understand 10.5 is alot more scalable than 10.4 - I remember when FreeBSD started to remove the GFL (Giant F-cking Lock), all manner of bugs started to appear. 5.x for most people was an absolute disaster in terms of quality; so bad that alot stayed with 4.x (which is what I did). 6.x is an improvement and 7.x is a huge improvement.

10.5 will experience the same things; they've made it more scalable, and as a result, bugs appear in code which was thought to be clean.

[Dudeman486]

Is it possible that along with bug fixes, this update will fix the issue with mobileme syncing between the iphone/touch and the desktop? because i remember it being somewhere in the leopard syncing framework that it only pushes or recieves data every 15 min. i don't know the exact issue, but i know there is one.

[JayMan8081]

Hopefully this will also correct the issue of X11.app breaking when updating to 10.5.4 from a fresh install of 10.5.1. That is an annoying bug to deal with when you really use X11 frequently.

[Kilamite]

Where exactly are these lists of bugfixes? Does Apple keep them secret or something?

Apple keeps them secret until once the update is released. Reason being, any security bugs could be taken advantage of if they announced them before the update was released to take care of it.

However, in one of the earlier 10.5.5 build discussions, someone posted a list of fixes. How legit they are I don't know, but since you asked:

OS X 10.5.5 Fixes (http://forums.macrumors.com/showpost.php?p=6000564&postcount=104)

[Eric S.]

Is it possible that along with bug fixes, this update will fix the issue with mobileme syncing between the iphone/touch and the desktop?

It's possible, but IMO unlikely because it's a pretty big change to make in a short time.

because i remember it being somewhere in the leopard syncing framework that it only pushes or recieves data every 15 min. i don't know the exact issue, but i know there is one.

Changes made on the Mac do not push immediately to the cloud because the apps do not push the data themselves; instead they depend on the OS's sync services, which only runs at specific intervals.

Changes made to the cloud should push immediately (more or less) to the Mac (if it's running OS X, not Windows).

[emulator]

Here we go again another update & another giant wish list, submit your requests to Apple people then maybe just maybe your wishes may come true
and don't forget to put iphone in the subject so your request won't go automatically to the spam folder at :apple:support.

[rumormill]

Thank you much!


However, in one of the earlier 10.5.5 build discussions, someone posted a list of fixes.

[koen]

LEOPARD IS BUGGIEST MAC OS SINCE 10.2....

A Few Requests....

How about better PowerPC support, less kernel panics?

How about fixing all the graphics card issues reported at Apple Discussions?
Seriously, how is it that an ATI Radeon 9800 or Apple Radeon 9600 or (a list of others at Apple Discussions) video cards work fine in Mac OS X Tiger, yet fail or artifact in Mac OS X Leopard in Powermac G4 & G5 towers? This is a constant problem that must be fixed and still hasn't even at 10.5.4!!! That's very sad.

How about being able to click on a folder in the dock & have it open as an, ummmm, ya know, just a DAMN FOLDER!?!?!?!?! GRRRRRRR


How about filing an offical bugreport to Apple instead of whining on a forum.

[jonnos]

i wonder if there will be a fix in this for the starcraft and diablo 2 problems with the nvidia color crap.. =\

[batitombo]

Looking forward to this. Hopefully it'll sort out some of the fan issues that I'm having.

clear the caches, or use onxy I think it's called

[Kilamite]

clear the caches, or use onxy I think it's called

It isn't that. I've reinstalled OS X, zapped SMC and PRAM. It varies, I'm half convinced it might be a dodgy thermometer or just very badly applied thermal paste.

If it is still consistent with this update, might see if it is the thermal paste.