As the Apple Turns: Scene 4844: Panger? Tither? Whatever (8/9/04)

Panger? Tither? Whatever (8/9/04)

There's at least one nice thing about Mac OS X Tiger being at least five months away: we're not so frenzied with 10.4 Madness yet that we can't still appreciate the simple joys of a 10.3.x update. And it's a good thing, too, because as faithful viewer Jason Terhorst was first to report, the Mac OS X Update 10.3.5 is now ready and waiting in your Software Update panel, just itching to deliver 43 MB worth of that "enhanced functionality and improved reliability" you've all come to crave. New video drivers, better networking, improved Bluetooth compatibility, enhanced FireWire and USB support, new versions of Mail and Image Capture, better font management, even better compatibility with third-party apps; why, the list goes on and on.

Actually, the list kinda stops right there-- well, except for Apple having tossed in all the Security Updates since 10.3.4, which is always a helpful move. In any event, though, that's a decent heap of improvements for us all to chew on while Tiger gets hammered into shape by Apple's resident code-jockeys. We look forward to installing it once we've carefully read the early reports and scanned for any "issues" with which the updater or new system components might choose to surprise us. It's just common sense, really, especially with Apple's recent history of posting software with "surprises" inside. The memory of the original Mac OS X 10.2.8 Update ("Network? Yeah, I gotcher network right here, pally") still haunts us, and we still don't know why Apple pulled that iPhoto 4.0.2 updater. Considering that 10.3.4 is running just fine for us right now, we can stand the wait.

Jason, on the other hand, was plucky enough to take the plunge and install that sucker right away, instead of spending the prudent day or so waiting to hear from those impetuous little "early adopter" scamps who just dive headfirst into this stuff without ever stopping to consider the potential consequences (people like, er, well, Jason), and he reports that "so far, it works great!" So on the off-chance that the 10.3.5 updater does contain a nasty bug, you can rest easy in the knowledge that it hasn't affected Jason. At least we've all got that going for us.

Once 10.3.5 turns out to be a benign and beneficial little update (as we're certain it will), we look forward to installing it and being numerically halfway from Panther to Tiger. Because while the next major upgrade to Mac OS X isn't yet preying on our thoughts every waking moment (which, with us, is just about all of them), we are occasionally breaking out in a cold sweat at the thought of not getting to mess with Spotlight or Dashboard for up to another ten or eleven months. So the closer Apple can get us to Tiger (even in a purely numerical sense) in the meantime ought to help stave off the shakes.

Incidentally, if any of you are still cowering in the cellar with a baseball bat because you're paranoid about evil PNGs coming to get you, you'll be relieved to hear that, in Apple's detailed list of changes under "other enhancements," Apple notes that 10.3.5 "updates the libpng (Portable Network Graphics) component." It doesn't happen to mention how, but we figure it's a pretty safe bet that it fixes that whole buffer overflow problem and you can put away the sports equipment and come back above ground, now.

SceneLink (4844)

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The above scene was taken from the 8/9/04 episode:

August 9, 2004: Apple appeases the Software Update junkies with a Mac OS X 10.3.5 Update. Meanwhile, an NPR correspondent recommends Steve Jobs for the National Intelligence Director post, and Roxio ditches Toast et al and commits itself to Napster full-time...

Other scenes from that episode:

4845: It's All According To Plan (8/9/04) Don't get us wrong, here: we're immensely grateful to The Powers That Be that Steve Jobs's cancer and surgery weren't more serious. Still, we have to admit, we're more than a little bummed about the timing; now that Steve's convalescence has more or less put him out of action for a month, we suppose we can just plumb forget about him winning the November election...
4846: Lotsa Eggs, One Lil' Basket (8/9/04) And in the "Hey, honey, I just mortgaged our house and spent our life savings and the kids' college funds to open a Haggis on a Stick(TM) franchise down at the mall food court" department, did you ever think you'd see a business move as gutsy or as ill-conceived as what Roxio just pulled?...

Or view the entire episode as originally broadcast...


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