World of Apple

List view in Mac OS X 10.5.2

Macenstein has published a screenshot and accompanying article regarding the first build of Mac OS X 10.5.2 that hit Apple’s developer site on Tuesday.

The screenshot reveals that Apple has added the option to include a List-View in stacks.

Also added is the ability to display the traditional Folder icon instead of the “stack” of icons in the Dock.

According to the source, “you can display it as a stack or an icon so you know what you’re looking at. The animations seem smoother now, too. Grid view looks bit better as well.” writes Macenstein.

Just one month after the first Leopard update, Apple had begun external testing of the second update which is set to pack a large list of fixes for Mac OS X 10.5.

Those familiar with the seed state that it first appeared on Tuesday evening and was labelled Mac OS X 10.5.2 build 9C7.

Developers have been advised to focus testing on Data Detectors, the Dock, the Finder, grammar checking, iCal, iChat, Mail. Parental Controls, Rosetta, Quick Look, Safari, Time Machine, and 802.11 AirPort operation.

The seed comes with a 76 item long fix list with significant fixes to CUPS (Common Unix Printing System), Mail and Rosetta.

Previous rumours have suggested that Mac OS X 10.5.2 will be released during Macworld Expo next month.

French Mac site MacBidouille is reporting (translated by HardMac) that Apple will unleash new versions of its high-end Mac Pro workstation at Macworld 2008 to held in January.

The French site reports that the new Mac Pros will see an update to 45nm quad-core Penryn processors, clocking up to 3.2GHz and include NVIDIA’s new Quadro FX.

A Blu-Ray drive will also reportedly be an option.

The site goes onto report that due to the significant update, Apple is also planning to simultaneously release Mac OS X 10.5.2. With the update will come a new set of SSE4 instructions built for the Penryn processors which should see Leopard given a big speed boost on top of the clock-speed increase.

The update is said to be the most significant interim update is OS X’s history.

[Update] - Blu-ray plaback will reportedly not be included due to a conflict between Apple and AACS LA.

As widely expected Apple has started seeding Mac OS X 10.5.1 to developers for testing. The seed carries the build number 9B13.

Apple states that the following areas should be targeted for testing; Mail Sync, Spotlight Index, Disk Management, Text Drawing, iCal and CalDAV syncing, Keychain login, Read-Only Issue with SMB, AirPort 802.1X, Application Firewall, To-Do Notes, and Smart Mailboxes.

[Update] It appears that AppleInsider is able to shed more light on the seed.

The rumour site reports that the beta software weighs in at at a “hefty” 267MB.

Also reported is that Mac OS X 10.5.1 delivers a “significant number” of bug fixes and over two dozen fixes and code corrections.

Apple has reportedly asked that its developers test the update broadly, paying particular attention to Time Machine, Mail, iCal, Back To My Mac, Bonjour, AirPort, gaming graphics, networking and the Finder.

The timeframe for a public release of Mac OS X 10.5.1 is reportedly a few weeks.

Mac Rumors and AppleInsider are both reporting that Apple has begun passing around pre-release builds of Mac OS X 10.5.1. Widespread testing is expected to start as early as next week.

The update will naturally help fix bugs and address security issues that are prevailing the shipping build of Mac OS Leopard.

Think Secret reports that Apple will unleash the final update to Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger sometime in the next few hours, just 2 days before the official release of Mac OS X Leopard.

Mac OS X 10.4.11 is said to include more than two dozen fixes and will also include the final version of Safari 3.0.

[Update] As it is no longer Wednesday evening in any part of the world it appears that Think Secret has got it wrong. AppleInsider on the other hand appears to have some more information to add to the mix. The rumour site states that build 8S2165 (Intel) and Mac OS X Update 10.4.11 build 8S165 (PowerPC) are void of any bugs but Apple has asked testers to give it a quick round of testing and give feedback on Safari, Automator, Dashboard widgets and Disk Images.

Sources close to the development of Mac OS X 10.4.11 tell AppleInsider that a release is expected in close proximity to the unleashing of Mac OS X Leopard.

Following this mornings note about Apple potentially releasing another update to Mac OS X 10.4, developers are reporting that seeds of Mac OS X 10.4.11 have shown up on ADC.

The two builds for Intel (8S2138) and PPC (8S138) have been released and they are said to include over 60 system enhancements.

Some of the components said to be worked on are as follows; AirPort drivers, Apple Storage drivers, audio codecs, CoreAudio, CoreFoundation, CoreGraphics, CoreTypes, CoreVideo, Dock, FileManager, FlashPlugin, Installer, Networking, PDFKit, QuickDraw, Safari, SystemSoundServer, and WebKit.

The update is also said to fix bugs with the following; CoreAudio when decoding iTunes Plus files, networking with Cisco VPN, enabling/disabling Bluetooth on Macs, and CoreAudio under Safari.

Think Secret (and AppleInsider) notes that Apple will very likely release another update to Tiger (Mac OS X 10.4) before the release of Leopard in late October.

Details of Mac OS X 10.4.11 are currently few and far between as testing is yet to begin.

MacScoop claims to have been provided a roadmap of Leopard’s development from now until the release which is scheduled for October.

The roadmap is broken down into 5 main points:

New seed in early July

The site claims that a new build will appear anytime from now to early July that will fix annoying issues that developers have been encountering with Airport as well as several other User Interface, API and Developer Tools issues.

New major build in early August

For early August Apple is said to be planning a “feature-full” Leopard, the site states that the WWDC build of Leopard was not “feature frozen.”

Sources told MacScoop that minor features are being finished as well as improvements to the UI.

If you expect major “wow” features or interface changes, you will be disappointed. What we may expect is additional settings and user interface polishements. Among the most criticized parts of the new user interface being the new menu bar and Dock.

First Candidate early September

Apple wishes to have a feature complete build by September. The build should be feature-full and stable Final Candidate version of Mac OS X Leopard.

At this point developers will reportedly switch from implementing to testing.

Four to six weeks and then a Golden Master

After first candidate Apple plans to spend four to six weeks testing Leopard at most. This should be done around mid-October when Apple will reach Golden Master and begin production of Leopard.

Final release late October

The release of Leopard is being scheduled for late October but according to MacScoop’s sources this could be early November in a worst case scenario.

MacRumors is reporting that Apple has seeded builds 8R208 (PPC) and 8R2208 (Intel) of Mac OS X 10.4.10.

The site states that areas of change are Image RAW, WebCore JavaScript, and ImageCapture.