Mac OS X 10.4.9: Apple's last twist in Tiger's tail

Stephen Withers
Wednesday, 14 March 2007 08:00

Business IT - Technology

Various 10.4.9 updaters are available. As usual, Apple provides 'delta' updaters for use with the immediately previous release (in this case 10.4.8) as well as 'combo' updaters that can be applied to any Tiger release from 10.4 to 10.4.8. The updates are offered in separate versions for PowerPC and Intel-based Macs.

Mac OS X Server 10.4.9 is also available, in universal delta and combo versions plus a PowerPC combo. Specific improvements involve AFP, Active Directory, printing, Xsan, and better TCP performance with Windows systems

This strategy of offering multiple updaters helps users avoid downloading unnecessary code. For example, the PowerPC delta update is 72M, while the Intel combo update is 310M.

Owners of one or two computers are best served by using the Software Update feature, as this ensures the right version is downloaded and installed, and that any dependent updates are applied in the right order.

Where multiple computers are to be updated, it's more efficient to download the combo updater once (twice for a mixed PowerPC/Intel installation) and then apply it to all the systems.

Corresponding security updates for Mac OS X 10.3.9 (Security Update 2007-003 for 10.3.9 client or server) are also available via Software Update or Apple's web site.