Apple's Mac OS X 10.5.3 Has Landed

jaymus of dawning writes with word that, as promised, "Apple has just released the latest major revision of OS X. The update yields improvements to tons of system components and applications including the Software Update system, Address Book, AirPort, Automater, iCal, iChat, Mail, Parental Controls, Spaces, Time Machine and VoiceOver. This release contains 200 bug fixes from 10.5.2. See Apple's release page for all the delicious details."

Now, like all updates

[oahazmatt]

Now, like all updates, I'll wait a week to make sure there are no serious problems. (For those of you still in disbelief, yes, Mac systems do have their share of problems. Like pesky system updates that may or may not allow you to boot into your OS. I forget which revision that was.)

Re:Service Pack 3

[SageinaRage]

You prefer your bugs to go UN-fixed?

Re:Service Pack 3

[oahazmatt]

I'm hardly stating the popular opinion, but vista only has 1 service pack so far... and osx has 3 - and the hardware to run osx is much more expensive, but virtually the same. (then again, at least it is OSX-ready)

Actually, I don't know what it is you're trying to state. Yes, Vista only has 1 Service Pack out. This is the third revision for OS X. These revisions acknowledge bugs or imperfections with the system (in my philosophical opinion, nothing created by a human [a flawed being] can be infallable) and tries to improve the imperfections and fix the bugs.

Why would this be a problem? I'd rather my OS manufacturer pay attention and regularly release updates rather than stockpile them for a rainy day (never used XP at home, so I'm not sure how MS does the Windows SPs).

If you're going to judge an OS by the number of service packs released, it can go both ways. "Oh, this one only has one service pack, it must be really stable." -- "Oh, this one only has one service pack, this other company must pay closer attention to bug reports".

Re:freakin scary, that was

[dal20402]

The first dual reboot I remember was 10.4.3 on a PowerMac G5.

Both multiple reboots and extra-long initial boot times are very common after 10.x.x updates. Apple should do a better job of publicizing their existence. After every single one I see a bunch of posts like "OMG! My computer took three minutes to boot! This new OS is t3h sukc!"

(Not that I ever understood the obsession with boot time, either. But it's amazing how many people shut down the machine every single time they stop using it.)

Re:WWDC

[ceoyoyo]

I don't recall His Steveness ever spending much time talking about double point updates to OS X. He certainly doesn't talk about "how well it's doing."

The keynote is almost certainly going to be dominated by iPhone. I'm sure he'll also mention the old standards, that iTunes is the biggest US retailer of music and that Mac sales have continued to grow faster than the industry average.

Re:Now, like all updates

[Lars T.]

Hang around in #MacOSX on Freenode for the next week, I guarantee you will see hosed systems :) (And not just from random people popping in, regulars will be hit as well). Happens every release.

Yeah, and like every release, many of the problems will have nothing to do with the update.

Re:WWDC

[HumanEmulator]

Since the timing is only 2 weeks away from WWDC, I think this is going to be used as filler material for the Keynote. "We just released 10.5.3 and it, like Leopard, have been doing phenomenally well......". Timing seems a bit too convenient. Yes, I know they've been working on this for several months. Still.

I agree about the timing, but I disagree about it being filler. I'm guessing that there are features built into the new OS that are required by the presumed new iPhone to be announced. Google syncing being one of the obvious ones. By releasing the update now, people won't need to do 200 and 400MB downloads when the phone is released.

One thing that supports this theory is the new iPhone SDK Beta released today requires 10.5.3 to install. I don't think this is arbitrary. The iPhone SDK has done a lot to destabilize my system and I suspect it needed OS support and fixes to work out the kinks.

It could also be bandwidth planning. After all regardless of a new phone, the iPhone App Store is coming in June and that's going to bring the inevitable iTunes update that will be downloaded by millions of people =P

Re:Retardedness Indeed

[brad-x]

Hahah.