Apple releases new OS X update
Apple has released a software update to OS X Leopard, probably the last major update before Snow Leopard is released next month, which includes a number of improvements and repairs several security flaws.
The update, officially called Mac OS X 10.5.8, represents a number of operating system improvements and fixes. As always, the update is available via the OS X update utility, or from the Apple Web site. It was officially released late yesterday. Like all interim OS X updates, it is free of charge. It contains a number of feature enhancements, system stability fixes, and security patches.
Version 10.5.8 improves system compatibility with AirPort wireless networks as well as other Apple technology, resolves existing problems that have caused the disappearance of display resolutions, and repairs a flaw that sometimes prevented importing large photo and movie files from digital cameras. Other featured enhancements include better Bluetooth wireless reliability, better interface with USB webcams and printers, improved iCal reliability with MobileMe Sync and CalDav, as well as correcting data reliability errors between iDisk and MobileMe.
A number of minor performance features were included with this update package. The upgrade improves OS X system compatibility with AirPort wireless networks, improves Sync Service reliability and adds RAW image support for several third-party digital cameras. OS X v10.5.8 also improves Mac compatibility with some external USB hard drives.
This update encompasses eighteen security fixes. The new version updated the bzip2 utility to stop an unexpected application termination when unzipping a maliciously built compressed file, extends the system’s list of content types that can be flagged as potentially unsafe under certain conditions (such as when files are downloaded from a Web page), and corrects a problem in which signing out of MobileMe did not remove all the user’s credentials, among other minor fixes, according to an InformationWeek story.
This will probably be the last update to OS X before the new Snow Leopard version is released on an as-yet-not-specific date in September. It should be noted that the Snow Leopard version has been made available for pre-order on Amazon (also without a specific date) and quickly became that site’s most popular software order. That new revision of OS X, officially version 10.6, will cost a single user $29.
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