Mac OS X updates near

Stephen Withers
Monday, 05 February 2007 04:19

Your IT - Home IT

Mac rumour sites are buzzing with the news that the latest build of Mac OS X 10.4.9 - distributed late last week to developers plus participants in the Customer Seeding program - may be ready for release. And there's also suggestions that Apple is preparing to release more information about what will be in Mac OS 10.5 'Leopard'.

According to reports, the latest 'seed' release of 10.4.9 contains no known bugs. Previous builds had a few remaining bugs in some of the core frameworks plus the iSync application used to synchronise data with other Macs (via .Mac), mobile phones and other handheld devices.

If this is true, the 10.4.9 update is likely to be released in the next few weeks. No significant new features are thought to be included. It would be a big surprise if this is not the final major update to 'Tiger'.

Apple has reportedly invited US media to an event on February 20. While details of the announcements to be made are being kept under wraps, there is some speculation that Mac OS X 10.5 will be among them. We feel this is unlikely, due to the number of bugs present in the most recent developer release of the new operating system - even if they have now all been squashed, three weeks seems too short for the manufacturing process.

It is possible that the event will be used to reveal additional features of Leopard.Our money is on the release of a new range of Cinema displays featuring built-in iSight cameras and - at the top end - larger screens, plus speed-bumped Mac Pro configurations.