Apple sets release date for 10.5.4 Leopard final update, Mobile Me
By Leslie Poston
Apple just released update 10.5.3 for Leopard, which had over 200 bug fixes and resolved a number of issues and conflicts. Continuing the “Leopard must have been a beta release” vibe, Apple is planning to release the final update to Leopard in July.
Apple made headlines recently with its announcement at WWDC of new .Mac replacement and synching solution MobileMe. MobileMe is set to solve many of the issues users of iPhones and multiple iMacs or MacBooks have with synching data among programs, online storage and their phone. It is rumored to have support for Windows Mobile phones in the works, but that is unconfirmed as yet.
The final update was seeded to developers recently, and a second version of Leopard 10.5.4 went out this week. The update is set to drop in July, and will automatically bring former .Mac users into the new MobileMe world. While users of older Mac OS versions will still be able to use MobileMe, several of the features, such as iLife 08 integration and others, will be limited to people who upgrade to the Leopard 10.5.4 build.
Leopard’s 10.5.4 update will also work with the proposed iTunes upgrade to version 7.7. Leopard 10.5.4 will presumably be the last Mac OS to support the die-hard PowerPC crowd. As of the Snow Leopard 10.6 release next year, future Mac OS versions will concentrate on Intel Macs and other future technologies.
If you are a .Mac user and are concerned about the switch, Apple has you covered. They have already generated a FAQ page to assist you in the transition from .Mac to MobileMe. You can find the FAQ page on the company web site at this link. The update to Leopard is free, as always. MobileMe is slated to cost $99 per year.
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June 15th, 2008
This makes no sense at all…. 10.5.4 being the LAST update to Leopard? That would mean a year without a update to 10.5.4, since 10.6 is scheduled until another 12 months…
June 16th, 2008
10.6 is slated to hit in January 2009
June 16th, 2008
Actually, it’s shipping in “about a year”.
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2008/06/09snowleopard.html
If tradition holds, expect at least four more updates to Leopard before Snow Leopard makes its arrival.
June 16th, 2008
I would say it is a but premature to confirm that this is indeed the LAST update for Leopard. I’m sure there will still be bugs to squash and holes to plug.
June 16th, 2008
In no way has Apple said that 10.5.4 will be the final update to Leopard. The only reason it is following so closely after 10.5.3 is that it has features required for the “push” sync capability of MobileMe (which is a terrible name, by the way). As in the past, expect more updates every 3 months or so until 10.6 (”Snow Leopard”) is released some time mid-2009.
June 17th, 2008
To say that 10.5.4 is going to be the last update is wrong - in every sense of the word. In all other past releases of Mac OS X, Apple have routinely and regularly updated the OS over time - Leopard is no different. This isn’t just an Apple thing either - Windows gets updates over time too, with patches and Service Packs.
No Operating System is released that never needs updates