Apple Releases Mac OS X 10.4.9

Apple on Tuesday released what is likely to be its final update to Mac OS 10.4 "Tiger" before it releases Leopard this spring. Included in the patch are fixes for .Mac, Bluetooth, Mac OS X's standard productivity applications, networking, and printing, among other issues.

The Cupertino, Calif. company has repeatedly pointed to a spring 2007 release date for the next update to Mac OS X. As with past releases of its operating system, Apple has stuck to a pretty much monthly patch schedule with major releases coming about once every 12 to 18 months.

10.4.9 covers a variety of issues across .Mac, Bluetooth, iChat, iCal and iSync, networking and modem, problems, printing, third-party applications, its Aperture photo editing software, and other miscellaneous fixes.

In .Mac, various syncing issues have been remedied, and a change was made to the way the service handles updates to the online address books. Authorization would now be required if the user wishes to change a large amount of data.

Issues with Kensington PilotMouse Mini mice when used with a MacBook after returning from sleep, as well as other wake-from-sleep issues with various other devices have been remedied. Printing issues including excessively large temporary files produced by third-party printers were fixed.

The 10.4.9 update is heavy on networking and modem fixes. Patches for performance, added support for WPA2 encryption, system crashes, and various Rosetta-related problems are included.

Rosetta fixes for problems using LEGO StarWars, Adobe InDesign, H&R Block TaxCut, Big Business' Big Business 5.1.0 are included, along with a patch for OpenType font display problems.

Apple has included the daylight savings time update in 10.4.9, although it had been released separately in February.

Other fixes in Mac OS X 10.4.9: DVDs with tracks longer than three hours should now play correctly; validation of disk images has been improved; and all recent Apple security updates have been included.