Mac OS X 10.5.2 update now said to be packing nearly 100 fixes
By Donald Melanson 
posted January 22nd 2008 11:03AM
posted January 22nd 2008 11:03AM
Last we heard, Apple had some 76 fixes in store for the now-imminent 10.5.2 update of Mac OS X, otherwise known as Leopard. Of course, that was more than a month ago, and Apple seems to have found plenty more room for improvement since then. According to AppleInsider, "people familiar with the software" are now saying that the update will pack "nearly 100 code corrections and enhancements," including twenty fixes that were turned up in the short time since Mac OS X 10.5.2 build 9C16 was released to developers during Macworld. All told, that should bring the latest update in just over the 450MB mark which, as AppleInsider points out, should make it the biggest "dot release" of Mac OS X yet.
Here's the difference between Windows and OSX...
When MS update something, they don't make a big deal about it. They quietly release fixes and necessary updates through Windows Update on a weekly basis and if there are any *major* problems with anything, they try their best to take care of it with a HotFix. This, from what I know, is the case with IE7 as is it the case with other core Windows/Vista components.
An SP update pack pretty much such bundles all the most important HotFixes from a period together and releases it to the public - during that time, you are free to get any of the individual fixes as you so please either automatically or manually from Microsoft's website.
I think a point some Windows fans are trying to make are that it would be nice if Apple did something similar. ie - released updates *as soon* as they've been given the clear, as opposed to waiting for their version of an SP update. It's not a fanboysish comment to make - it's a logical one. Surely you're not afraid to demand syuch things from Apple for your loyalty?.
On another note - I think it's petty for both sides to be making childish comments about the pricing for both OS's. They are based on different price structures - as a post-grad, I can get Vista for free. If I wanted to update from XP or any other version of Windows, I won't be paying for the price of a full-OS. Similarly, most Mac fan's will chalk up to OSX being worth the prices they're willing to pay for it.
Seriously?. Grow up and quit taking every chance you've got to troll posts like this.
@addy
Didn't think I sounded very childish in my post, but I will apologize for calling people idiots, perhaps too harsh. I don't write often either, dspite your accusations of trolling. Anyway, by your logic having weekly updates is the better way to go, by mine I'd say that wouldn't be so fun to track back and find which one of those 'fixes' actually screwed something up instead. A dot release handles multiple fixes, allows Apple to know where your computer is at instead of tracking 52 fixes a years when they are working on your computer, you don't have to be constantly plugged into the internet to make sure you have every patch, no dealing with annoying update messages, etc, etc.
Either way is fine in the end though, but I don't see why Windows users would be complaining about the way that OS X updates especially if they aren't users themselves. Also, no one makes a *big deal* about these updates except for blog sites, so who really cares in the end?
By the way, IE6 is still on ~33% of the machines out there and still handles CSS wrong, so something tells me they didn't do many HotFixes there.
Can we fix the Photoshop CS3 text field bug? Please?
Hopefully 10.5.2 will stabilize Leopard enough to where it can be used on production machines. I'm stuck at Tiger 10.4.11 while I wait for Leopard to stabilize. This is not new with Mac OS, BTW: 7.5 took until 7.5.3 "Unity Release" to be usable, for example. And Cheetah and Puma weren't really usable either...it took until "Jag-Wire" (10.2) for Mac OS X to be right. I seem to remember a couple of updates needed too for Jaguar.
Apple NEVER charges for updates. And what's more, since Mac OS X Cheetah (10.0) the point release is a full-fledged new OS. Since X (Roman numeral 10) is part of the OS's identity now, each subsequent release of the OS is a point after 10. This should hold up until 10.99.x, which should be in a couple of hundred years or so.
Actually, 10.2 (Jaguar) was an absolutely awful release of OS X. It really wasn't until 10.3 when OS X became a usable OS. Tiger than fixed even more issues with that.
I was quite pleasantly suprised that my iBook G3 900, which came pre-installed with 10.2 runs better with 10.4, which has more stuff going on in the BG. Unfortunately, I cannot upgrade to Leopard (I didn't actually...buy Tiger), since Leopard simply *will not work* on it. Vista is perceived to be a resource hog, but really, Leopard isn't much better. Of course, try saying that to the fanboys.
@ mikee: dunno about the resource hogging part. Maybe Leopard does indeed use more resources than Tiger, but the way it does must be great, because my Rev. A MacBook is actually a little faster with Leopard. Well, Apple is known for good optimization (on Macs, Windows versions of their software is quite sluggish).
"Personally, I can care less as I am smart enough to buy products from other companys."
I guess all of us apple users should bow down to your greatness.... because clearly we are inferior beings. And if you dont care about apple news than gee tea eff oh this post.
my $0.02
In Steve Jobs speak, don't we mean nearly 100 new features?
Anyone know when 10.5.2 is supposed to drop?
I'm sticking with Tiger until more of these bugs get shaken out of Leopard.
Hey, wasn't Adobe supposed to release a Leopard-compatible Acrobat Pro around this time? I kinda thought it would have been announced at Macworld, but didn't hear a peep.
I bet 50 of those are typos :D
Ha, and I thought I was so original, thinking I'd post on this topic about the whole Apple vs. Microsoft update... thingy...
Windows 3.1 FTW! everything new sux!
the first fix should be to straighten out that crooked stack of icons, looks like it is about to topple over
If this was a Linux distro, most of these fixes would have been pushed out as they were done in daily updates. Why does Apple hold them back and batch them? If you view OSX as a Unix distro, how good is it at packaging and pushing out upstream fixes?
It's called quality audits. For Microsoft and Apple, these things must be done extensively. Did you read about the patch in the Ubuntu repos that broke a ton of applications?
Anything made by humans will be flawed. However, having been in the MS world for 27 years and switched to Mac 4 months ago I can say this. When MS used to release an update, I cringed as I knew that I had a rough few days ahead of me installing and fighting with the thing. When Apple releases an update, I can't wait to get home to install it. Nuff said.
@Mike
Get a life already. It's no more attractive when a Windows fan trolls it up in a Mac post than it is when a Mac fan trolls it up in Windows post.
As for this update, Apple fans, if you're going to go into Windows posts and troll about the bugs Windows has and the patches Windows needs - expect to get it back in spades when Apple releases a 450MB+ 'patch' that fixes over 100 bugs.
That's the risk you get when you play the 'we're better than you' game. Eventually, you trip. Then everyone jumps on you.
This is why diplomacy is better than attack.
Problems with linux Mike?
Hahahahahahaha, I've used my outdated desktop so many times in sure-to-crash situations and it has never failed!
With every single distro!
I just hope authenticating against AD will work now.
Wow, there sure are a lot of engadget readers that do not know JACK SHIT about Macs, yet hate on them & pretend they know it all.
dumbasses!
Link would not post: http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2007/12/20/rumor-dock-made-less-horrible-in-10-5-2-leopard-update
Are any of these Leopard bugs the sort that means you lose all your data, lock up the WHOLE system (not one program) and get pissed off if you go online without anti virus? Doesn't sound like OS X to me.
well, i've been using windows since 95.. i switched to mac os x back in august and i'm never turning back! it's not that mac os x is better than windows.. they have there highs and lows.. both of 'em.. now, TO ME, mac is a lot easier to use! the UI is more intuitive and everything about the OS just flows.. when comparing to windows (and i'm sorry but vista isn't an OS.. it's a beta version of something to come.. a very buggy and flawed beta version..) i think of mac os x as that "almost better than sex" experience where one doesn't rely solely on raw hardware power.. to me windows will always be that resource hog.. that whore who just wants your money and then gives you the worst BJ ever.. but you still go back to her because you just can't live without her.. well.. as i've said.. i like both OS's.. but you can bet i'm sticking to mac!
450 MB?! If they keep that up, Leopard's going to be as bloated as Vista before long.
At leopard is fixable, try making Vista even descent in 100 fixes, better yet you only need one, just get rid of it
The minor flaws in leopard are like the minor flaws in my best friends... i still love um, we all have our flaws. . . we learn from out mistakes and fix it...
apple's 10.5.(whatever) updates aren't as close as often as xp/vista's hotfix's and not to mention the random constant "you must now restart your computer in order to complete the installation of new windows updates" in the middle of a presentation in a one-chance teaching of a class with 125 students..
I love my mac it's not perfect ... and I can deal with windows... i know windows inside and out, everything about it and how it works, how to fix it when this, and that, and this, and this... and this.. happens. I use to hate macs... just because I thought windows was the hardcore way to go. I do a lot of tweaking and experimenting to make windows do MORE that it was built for and just make it the way i like it... but i ended up fixing my computer more than using it... along with all my friends and familie's computers.. etc.
i got a mac 4 years ago.
i'm on my 3rd one, not because the last ones quit on me, because they basically do... just work.. and do so much more even as a stock clean installation.