Mac OS X 10.6.3 arrives

Stephen Withers
Tuesday, 30 March 2010 12:27

Business IT - Technology

After weeks of '10.6.3 is imminent' stories, Apple has finally released the latest version of Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard with a substantial list of improvements including more than 50 security fixes.

Mac OS X 10.6.3 delivers no new features, but that's what you'd expect from a second-point update especially in the post-Enron era of 'no extra functionality for free' accounting practices.

Mac OS X 10.6.3 does include reliability and/or compatibility issues for a number of subsystems, including QuickTime X, OpenGL, AirPort, printing, Bonjour, DNS, photo screen savers, and USB input.

It also provides fixes for a variety of specific issues affecting Mail, Aperture, iChat, iCal, MobileMe, Time Machine, Parental Controls, Directory Services, Mobile Accounts, copying to Windows file servers, Xsan, and glowing, stuck, or dark pixels in video from the iMac (Late 2009) built-in iSight camera.

One item on the 10.6.3 list that will be especially welcomed by users of some older software is that the issue that prevented files with the # or & characters in their names from opening in Rosetta applications has now been fixed.

Daylight Saving Time rules have been updated to reflect recent changes in areas including Argentina, Fiji, Pakistan, and Antarctica, and improvements have been made to the performance of Logic Pro 9 and Main Stage 2 in 64-bit mode.

A full list on non-security changes can be found here.

Please read on for the security changes delivered in 10.6.3 and in Security Update 2010-002 for Leopard.