Apple Pushes Out Third Build of Mac OS X 10.6.4 (10F50) to Developers

[greenmeanie]

Windows has a thing called Patch Tuesdays.
If you work in IT you will understand it.
I don't get how the user says windows never patches?
Add all the Tuesdays together and you get a 500 meg patch just like OSX.

 

[lowonthe456]

since cs3 is incredibly unstable, cs4 is a little better but still buggy...the company i work for wont upgrade to cs5. we have 6 licenses for cs3, 1 for cs4 and none for cs5. adobe has crapped on the mac versions of cs...quark needs to update itself to 2002 or apple needs to get gimp and make it into photoshop, buy correll and turn it around and make pages prepress ready.... ive been pro-adobe for years but they have zero competition and it shows.... oh and calling mumbai india is the suck.

if apple can get some things updated to help cs i am all for it!

as of now cs is a flaming bag of poo...on snow leopard

 

[nefan65]

Windows may be **** but at least its' VPN client works.

I have to run Windows in a VM due to the ****** VPN client on OS X.

What are you trying to VPN too? I've had ZERO issues using a VPN on SL. I go to a Cisco ASA, and I can us IPSEC [built in] or use Cisco's Anyconnect, with no problems...

 

[johnnymg]

No Trim? :-(

TRIM sounds like a 'bag of hurt bloatware' to me.

Get an SSD that manages GC itself and you won't need TRIM.

JohnG

 

[wizard]

They are service packs, but are not unusual in size.

it was my mistake on thinking that the files did not overlap. i should have figured.

Well that is part of it. Sometimes though a fix in a library may result in a cascade of rebuilds. It depends upon what and how a fix was made.

It gets worst if the fix involves a modification to a development tool to fix bugs there. You then have to consider all code developed with that compiler as suspect triggering a rebuild. IPhone was a goood example of a toolchain that was rapidly developed and took awhile to stabilize. On the Mac things are better but there are lots of bleeding edge things going on there too. For example support of blocks for GCD, OpenCL and LLVM.

either way, it's almost a joke that they have to update it that often. can't they get it right the first time?

If they waited for it to be "right the first time" the development cycle would be so slow that software would never ship. One thing that can be very helpful here is to look in detail at the process of developing even on base feature. Take LLVM for example, look at the blogs and list server archives to see what it takes to get each release to a known state.

i'll tell you what: windows 7 isn't updated once every other month with HALF A GB update.

Actually it is updated faster than that as MS often patches their OS's. In fact I can run Update on my machines at work once a week and almost always pull in multiple updates. Frankly though this is not a bad thing as it is often security related patching.

On the contrary Apple is extremely sluggish with respect to getting security updates out. The otherthing is that Apple is often significantly improving librarys and apps in these updates. Graphic drivers are a significant example here. What is notable on the MS side is that graphics driver updates are often handled outside of MS.

Note I'm not trying to make excuses here. Apple does have issues with respect to how software on the Mac is managed and developed. However the size and frequency of the updates is not bad in the respect that you indicate. Rather they should be more frequent.

One last thing bulk releases like this give Apple one big advantage, they have a better understanding of what exactly is installed on a platform by looking at the OS release number. I've seen numerous examples on bothe Linix and Windows of things breaking due to minor updates. The problem on either system is then figuring out exactly what isn't installed to get things right again. Linux has gotten much better here but it was once a significant issue.


Dave

 

[German]

TRIM sounds like a 'bag of hurt bloatware' to me.

Get an SSD that manages GC itself and you won't need TRIM.

Not true!

 

[Winni]

who needs MS products?

Who needs Apple products?

Install a desktop Linux or BSD distribution and be FREE. Most people on this forum here would be as happy with an out-of-the-box Ubuntu 10.04 installation as they are with Mac OS X plus iLife. I'm pretty sure most wouldn't even feel a difference, and especially so-called switchers should think twice about it before they exchange one tyrant (Microsoft) for another (Apple).

 

[wizard]

I have to agree!

TRIM sounds like a 'bag of hurt bloatware' to me.

Get an SSD that manages GC itself and you won't need TRIM.

JohnG

It would be extremely poor for the long term to put this functionality into the OS. Especially when we might start to see new technology coming on line for solid state storage.

Besides I haven't seen indications that TRIM is really needed on OSX.

In any event it would be good to see Apple deliver a statement with respect to this feature.

 

[rkdiddy]

I would love to see the addition of the "snap" to window feature that is present in Windose 7. Running dual monitors this is a very slick feature.

-R

 

[justinfreid]

I would love to see the addition of the "snap" to window feature that is present in Windose 7. Running dual monitors this is a very slick feature.

-R

That is a great built-in feature of Windows 7. Here are 2 apps that add the functionality to OS X:
BetterTouchTool (free)
Cinch ($7)

They both work really nicely and mirror the Windows 7 method.

 

[albebaubles]

What are you trying to VPN too? I've had ZERO issues using a VPN on SL. I go to a Cisco ASA, and I can us IPSEC [built in] or use Cisco's Anyconnect, with no problems...

It's an issue with SL and using an AEBS with 'default host' and 'port forwarding'...Turn those off on the AEBS and everything works fine.

My windows VM is unaffected by 'default host' and 'port forwarding'.

 

[cowcaster88]

My understanding it was a hardware issue with intels chip sets that were preventing this previously. So if you really want sound out of the mini display port you will have to upgrade to the new hardware.

That is what I have considering I got the MacBook Pro, with the i7 processor, a week ago.

 

[wizard]

Oh come on let's grow up here.

I really wonder how Apple will continue to focus on Macs and OS X since iphone/ipod and ipad are becoming their bread and butter business. Not saying the Mac platform is going away anytime soon (since Apple requires devs to use it to make iphone/ipad apps), but you look at the banner for this years WWDC, it's all about apps and the iphone OS.

First nothing from Apple has indicated a slow up in the development of Mac OSX.

Second the base of the iPhone OS is pretty much the same as Mac OSX. Only the higher level APIs have changed significantly. I'm not certain why this hasn't sunk in yet, IPhone OS is derived directly from Mac OSX. That is one of the reasons Why developers love the space.

Third iPad is Apples newest product thus it is no surprise that they want to focus on getting apps out for it. It is very important for the products success and should drive the development of new devices for the family.

Fourth in contrast Mac OSX is a mature platform. The features in Snow Leopard where introduced months ago. At that time significant focus was placed on those new features. Likewise when the next big cat comes out Apple will focus on that.

Fifth are Apple developers going mad with all of this whining or are they just business idiots? I mean really how many people here actually expect Apple to release a hot product and then not support it?

Sixth WWDC still has a incredible number of Mac OSX tracks to attend if you are interested. Even so it is a given that the ones that will be hard to get into will be iPhone/iPad focused. The reason is simple these are high growth platforms where being first can have a significant impact on the bottom line.


Dave

 

[retro83]

Please fix the horrible graphics glitches I see on my X3100 based MacBook. I know it's the worst integrated card ever made but I think you could pull this one off. There weren't any in 10.6.0!

Doubt it, I reported this one after 10.6.2 came out. They never even ack'd the bug report.

 

[Eric S.]

First nothing from Apple has indicated a slow up in the development of Mac OSX.

Apple rarely makes public statements of any kind regarding future plans. I'd hardly expect them to come out and publicly state "we're slowing down OS X development." Nevertheless, by historical development cycle standards we would expect this year's WWDC to preview 10.7 and start to build the hype for it, but it seems pretty clear that will take a back seat to the iPhone OS.

 

[justinfreid]

Apple rarely makes public statements of any kind regarding future plans. I'd hardly expect them to come out and publicly state "we're slowing down OS X development." Nevertheless, by historical development cycle standards we would expect this year's WWDC to preview 10.7 and start to build the hype for it, but it seems pretty clear that will take a back seat to the iPhone OS.

Perhaps a MacBook Air with 10.7 on it will accidentally be left in a bar somewhere...

 

[Peace]

Apple rarely makes public statements of any kind regarding future plans. I'd hardly expect them to come out and publicly state "we're slowing down OS X development." Nevertheless, by historical development cycle standards we would expect this year's WWDC to preview 10.7 and start to build the hype for it, but it seems pretty clear that will take a back seat to the iPhone OS.

While that's probably true I expect to see iTunes X and a new Apple TV at this years WWDC only because they are the missing parts of the whole iPad experience.

 

[jpmohr]

Hey, I was glad to see a mention of C3, especially since Adobe hasn't released any more updates for it. CS3 has worked pretty well for me with Snow Leopard (no major problems), but I would still like to know that it will continue working for years to come. (I can be hopeful, right?) I was considering the CS5 upgrade, but not since Adobe decided to charge $200 (US) more for CS to CS5 (than upgrading from CS4 to CS5), forget it.

I have some issues with Mac Pro and the Alert Sounds defaulting to Internal Speaker (apparently I'm not the only one), so hopefully that will be addressed too. An a few other Snow Leopard-like bugs that have been ...bugging... me.

Gotta love updates.

 

[MikhailT]

500+MB?! at this rate, i'll have over 4.5gbs of "security updates" when 10.6.9 comes out.

WTF? this is just a glorified service pack.

It is a minor service pack that includes fixes and security updates. MS does the same thing every certain tuesday every month and their service packs are just collection of fixes over time packed into one package. Apple does that every 3-4 months, the only difference is that Apple is behind their security fixes and they don't release small updates that often, they'll hold all the fixes and updates for the .x.y updates.

first off, i'm an avid apple user. i'm not a fanboy, though.

the one thing i hate about OS X, though, is that it was first introduced in 2002, and has since had 6 revisions.

that's basically the same thing as using Windows 98 and having 6 revisions.

You are so far off, it's not even funny that you are thinking like this.

OS X is an OS platform not a specific version number, just like Windows DOS/9.x/NT are MS's OS platforms.

OS X had 6 major versions, Windows NT (which W7 is based on) had ~ 6-7 major versions (NT3.x/NT4.x/2000/(XP/2003)/(Vista/2008)/(W7/2008R2). I say ~6-7 because some people consider 3.5 a major release as well.

 

[rkdiddy]

That is a great built-in feature of Windows 7. Here are 2 apps that add the functionality to OS X:
BetterTouchTool (free)
Cinch ($7)

They both work really nicely and mirror the Windows 7 method.

Wow - thanks I will check these out!

 

[MartiNZ]

I would love to see the addition of the "snap" to window feature that is present in Windose 7. Running dual monitors this is a very slick feature.

-R

You mean the 'drag window to the edge and it decides to take up the whole display height' type feature? I'm constantly amazed that anyone likes that, and I was most pleased to find out that it can be turned off (Computer -> Properties -> Advanced System Settings).

Windows is not as conducive as OS X to arranging windows in an attractive fashion, mainly because Windows windows have pretty big surrounds and take up more space, and it seems that most people have always just run everything maximised, which perplexes me. The snap features in 7 make it all the harder to arrange things nicely because if you try to arrange windows aligned to the top or the side of the screen they madly expand to maximise or at least take full height - I haven't yet run into a situation in 7 where I wanted that to happen.

The snap feature I would like in OS X is Windows' mouse snap-to default button in dialogs.

On 10.6.4, good to see SMB is on the list to look out for; it has been embarrassingly slow in SL to date, not good if you're trying to show something to a Windows person.

Other than that ... might as well bring up the nested sorting in stacks bug AGAIN, and the iTunes dashboard widget bugs that have now survived 2 major and 22 minor updates to OS X. Long live my pet bugs .

 

[MikhailT]

You mean the 'drag window to the edge and it decides to take up the whole display height' type feature? I'm constantly amazed that anyone likes that, and I was most pleased to find out that it can be turned off (Computer -> Properties -> Advanced System Settings).

Windows is not as conducive as OS X to arranging windows in an attractive fashion, mainly because Windows windows have pretty big surrounds and take up more space, and it seems that most people have always just run everything maximised, which perplexes me. The snap features in 7 make it all the harder to arrange things nicely because if you try to arrange windows aligned to the top or the side of the screen they madly expand to maximise or at least take full height - I haven't yet run into a situation in 7 where I wanted that to happen.

The snap feature I would like in OS X is Windows' mouse snap-to default button in dialogs.

On 10.6.4, good to see SMB is on the list to look out for; it has been embarrassingly slow in SL to date, not good if you're trying to show something to a Windows person.

Other than that ... might as well bring up the nested sorting in stacks bug AGAIN, and the iTunes dashboard widget bugs that have now survived 2 major and 22 minor updates to OS X. Long live my pet bugs .

OS X doesn't even have anything close to it. Apple could easily just add corner triggers to make the window 1/4 sized instead of the whole height. Like you say, it's an option, something OS X doesn't have.

I would love to use the snap feature in order to make Finder more "tolerable" for file operations, like dragging folders for either move or copy. I could easily create two finder windows that's on two different drives and snap them side by side. By default, opening a new finder window only create finder that looks like the previous finder window, I honestly have to resize it to make it work for me. The snap works and does save time for many people who does stuff like this.

 

[Warsteiner]

I really hope this update will fix the switchable graphics issue in the new MBPs. I'm waiting until Apple provides a solution to this before buying one - and I have to say the wait is pretty tough!

 

[ae3265]

first off, i'm an avid apple user. i'm not a fanboy, though.

the one thing i hate about OS X, though, is that it was first introduced in 2002, and has since had 6 revisions.

that's basically the same thing as using Windows 98 and having 6 revisions.

WTF are you folks smoking and can I have some???

Let's see, I've recently had reason to reinstall XP, Vista and upgrade to 10.5 to 10.6.

XP, with SP3 slipstream, at least 100+ updates AFTER SP3 + at least 4 reboots.

Vista, base install, rebot, install SP3, again over 100+ updates and around 4 reboots.

OS X, install 10.6. Install 10.6.3 combo updater, 13 updates - total 3 reboots.

OS X upgrade and updates - done casually over a single afternoon, about 4 hours once I finished fiddling around with uninstalling and re-installing macports and a few other apps that I had upgrades for (Neo Office, etc).

Windows Vista - 2 days for the complete process.
XP - 16 hours.

You like Windows update process, have at it. I'll take Apple's updates any day. In the same amount of time, I can update all 4 of my macs and both my Dad's as it takes to keep up with one or two Window's boxes. Hell, with the right tools (PCA), it's less painful to keep my Solaris boxes updated and patched. Yum update is a breeze in the Linux world.

To even suggest Windows updating process is easier or faster you must be on something, a troll or just plain hanging out on the low branches of the intelligence tree.

 

[ae3265]

Who needs Apple products?

Install a desktop Linux or BSD distribution and be FREE. Most people on this forum here would be as happy with an out-of-the-box Ubuntu 10.04 installation as they are with Mac OS X plus iLife. I'm pretty sure most wouldn't even feel a difference, and especially so-called switchers should think twice about it before they exchange one tyrant (Microsoft) for another (Apple).

While Ubuntu's latest offering does look interesting in a number of ways. I'm sorry, but for the most part Linux is behind both companies in their UI AFAIK. I think they are catching up fast, but I've just had my teeth itch far too many times over various inconsistencies in the Linux world.

For me, Apple has, in may cases between what's built-in and what's available third party, the most efficient desktop to use and I feel my productivity on the platform is better than anything else I've tried.

There are lots of reasons to level criticisms at MS, Apple, or whoever. However, AFAIK, I could care less about this political "tyrant" crap. I make my living in the IT sector and some of the people are trying to make a living by the fruits of their labor, such as Red Hat, Apple, MS, etc. And I have no issue with that.

What I care about is how effectively I can use my computer in my personal and professional life. Right now, that's Apple. If it changes, I'll change. But I'm not going to sacrifice my personal productivity just because I think al software should be free so I can leach off the work of others.