Mac OS X 10.5.2 Update Brings Welcome Fixes 433
jetpack writes to make sure we're aware that Apple's OS X 10.5.2 update is available and that it contains plenty of improvements and fixes that users have been asking for. Macworld enumerates some of the big ones, saying that the update "shows Apple listens to users" (sometimes). A couple of the new features simply restore Tiger (10.4) capabilities that Leopard (10.5) had inexplicably withdrawn. You can now shut off the much-maligned transparency of the menu bar, and organize your Dock stacks hierarchically and display them as folders. And Apple has provided welcome access to common Time Machine functions in the menu bar.
Re:AEBS backups (Score:3, Insightful)
10.5.2 is what 10.5 should've been in Apple didn't rush it at the expense of QA.
Does it bring back the "Windows Shade"? (Score:5, Insightful)
We were so amazed when Windows 3.0 taught us to "minimize" and still have ***another application running*** (back when DOS was neato) that we didn't ask "ok, so, why do I have to reach to the very farthest point on the screen to get my window back?"
Yes, Exposé might be a cool way around that, and some Vista maven may say 'aeroglass', but click-click... click-click is about as simple as it can possibly get. And no motion sickness!
Re:Does it fix... (Score:0, Insightful)
MIA: Tiger's split Terminal window (Score:4, Insightful)
Of course, after upgrading to Leopard, this innovative feature has been removed! I couldn't believe it!
Now I'm back to opening up two Terminal windows...
The best way to describe this update (Score:5, Insightful)
Windows is freakin' huge - hence the year to Vista SP1 - but Microsoft's releases also go much wider, have more hardware to test with, and have more public pre-release cycles as well. So it takes them a year to do a service pack, where Apple only takes about 3-4 months.
Re:Without reading the reversion list (Score:2, Insightful)
As Apple have no idea whether the songs are still under copyright & what license they're under, I don't see what business Apple have in preventing you copying your data around.
The only reason Apple impose this artificial limitation on customers is at the behest of their real customers - the RIAA, et al.
Pre-emptive Feature deprecation as a good strategy (Score:4, Insightful)
Then it adds them back if there are howls.
It's a good strategy in many ways. First, it allows one to keep the idea that there is one-primary-way-for-novices-to-do-something on most mac. When you go to another mac, it behaves the same. (e.g. Life is a box of chocolates with linux. when you sit down at someone elses terminal, focus might follow the mouse, it might auto-raise, god knows what happens when you launch emacs (xterm or text, context colored or not, etc...) Uniformity is viewed as good mac land because ultimately by not having to think too much or memorize short cuts you can just focus on getting the job done and the computer is more appliance like than tweaker box like. It's not that you can't customize a mac, it's just stupid to try in general.
It also allows them to introduce new lower level mechanism that break old higher level mechanisms. Such as the clean/dirty file tracking used for Time Machine.
I don't know why they deprecated your MP3 file moving. My guess however it was the opposite intent. they were trying to put in speed bumps--apples view of the best DRM seems to be to simply use invoconvience rather than prohibition when they can. I rather like that approach philosophically.
Re:Without reading the reversion list (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:AEBS backups (Score:5, Insightful)
It'd suck to need to restore from your backups only to discover that they were pooched.
Re:AEBS backups (Score:5, Insightful)
Well, it has been for the last two months and I doubt they disabled it.
You're 100% correct. Leopard is down to the point that they're fixing cosmetic issues that customers complained about, while Vista still isn't sure if you can listen to an MP3 while downloading from a local fileserver. That desperate emergency update, aka SP1, is about a year long in coming. It must irk MS to no end that Leopard just needs the final spit and polish while Vista languishes.
Typed on Linux. I don't really care one way or the other, but there's no way you can say that Leopard is as troubled as Vista.
Re:Does it bring back the "Windows Shade"? (Score:2, Insightful)
The third-party window shade is from Unsanity [unsanity.com] but alas does not work in 10.5
This is one of those legacy features that you'll just have to learn to live without (i.e. use Expose) similar to having to constantly turn on "Windows classic folders" and is nothing compared to some of the BASIC OS functions that need addressing:
- Open a folder in a listview should be one button (i.e. enter, which currenty goes to rename, really??) not Command-O
- Screenshotting needs to be waaaay easier (i.e. single key rather than shift-command-3 or whatever)
Etc. etc.
Sorry Apple, but I'll be waiting on installing this update as it seems little more than a few minor bug fixes (iCal? Yeah it has more problems than that)
How about fixing Finder? (Score:3, Insightful)
* Run each Finder window in a separate process, so it doesn't lock everything up when one window gets busy. Particularly when hitting network shares.
* Restore the pre OSX "staggered" icon layout option.
* Give us an option to completely eliminate the sidebar without having to go back to "spacial" windows.
* Move the "FTP" support from Finder to Safari, so we don't have the overhead and security issues of file-system-like operations when accessing remote high-latency servers.
* Bring back the Shelf from NeXTSTeP.
* Add "Cut" as well as "Copy". There's a "Cut" option in the edit menu but it's always greyed out. If there's some obscure option key that will enable this, well...
* Make it OBVIOUS when there's an option/command click 'advanced' operation, instead of making us guess. And that goes for the rest of the software on the Mac.
Re:Does it bring back the "Windows Shade"? (Score:3, Insightful)
Bah (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm running ubuntu on a PC, so I can't use the server admin, or workgroup manager tools. Also, apple doesn't come with a standard VNC server, instead it uses VNC with some proprietary shit built in, so I had to install vine server to get a remote desktop. Of course, vine server sucks as well, because I can't get it to start on boot, without logging into the server with either the native server admin tools, or locally with a KVM. Oh wait, the X Serve doesn't play nice with a standard KVM. I have an extra mouse and keyboard setting in my rack just for the X Serve.
Once you manage to get in the damn thing, if you have any sort of complicated setup at all, you simply CAN'T DO it using the server admin tool. I've usually had to bust into the config files just like any other Unix system. Take a look at the SQL section of the Server Admin tool, its a fucking joke. Also, even if you do start to do some things by hand, shit still doesn't work right.
See one of my bug reports here.
http://macosx.com/forums/mac-os-x-server/298314-samba-shares-hfs-extended-attributes.html [macosx.com]
The mailing list / blog / colander stuff is also less than impressive. Why the FUCK should I have to wait 15 minutes for my changes to take affect. It this 1982 or some shit? Some changes seem to take much longer than that as well. I waited a whole day for one of my groups to show up. Why is it that the "recent changes" section of each group shows group emails, even if I turn the mailing list feature off?
Oh yeah, last but not least, the server crashes. It responds to pings, still responds to local terminal input, but anything that requires authentication is dead in the water. So that leaves mail, netbios, ssh, server admin, work group manager, etc etc all dead. I think the LDAP server is crapping out, but I haven't been able to prove it yet. I've had to hard boot the server half a dozen times in the last two weeks.
My last rant. WHAT THE FUCK IS WITH THE QUICK TIME UPDATES, AND THE REQUIRED RESTARTS. Jesus christ, it's like I'm working with windows NT.
Re:AEBS backups (Score:2, Insightful)
Huh? What does the original target date have to do with it?
Whether it was released early, on time, or late is one fact. Whether it was rushed or released when good and ready is another fact. Whether it was shipped in a Monday or a Friday or some other day is a third fact. Despite the fact that all there of these facts are related to time and the release date, they're pretty much independent of one another. Knowing the release date will tell you the third, knowing also the original target date will tell you the first, but neither tells you anything at all about the second, since the second fact has nothing to do with either the first or the third.
Re:Does it bring back the "Windows Shade"? (Score:2, Insightful)
The parent isn't asking for a new way to organize his windows so he can switch between groups of related tasks. He's asking for a quick way to get whatever's in front of him out of the way so he can see what's underneath it. Spaces doesn't do this, Exposé doesn't do this (unless what you want to see is the Desktop, which Exposé does very well), and minimizing to the Dock doesn't do this (because once you minimize, you have to do something completely different in order to get your window back, distracting you from the task at hand).
I've learned to adjust the way I work around this deficiency of OSX's window manager, so I hardly ever miss it anymore. But since I never double-click to minimize, and I do still remember how frequently I used WindowShade in OS9, I'd love to see it come back.
Re:How about fixing Finder? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:The best way to describe this update (Score:1, Insightful)
If this is because of Apple's close hardware model, maybe it just shows that their model is the right one for most users. Your typical Mac zealot doesn't seem to be too much in arms about it, to the point of threatening to switch to Windows.
Re:Without reading the reversion list (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:How about fixing Finder? (Score:2, Insightful)
MacBook Air USB peripherals (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Why no charge for new features? (Score:3, Insightful)
It's all about revenue claim. After Apple got bit by the whole 802.11n driver thing, they've started claiming revenue for their laptops and iPhones in a staggered way - instead of all at once. This allows them to justify releasing significant new features on those platforms (as opposed to merely bug fixes).
My guess is that Apple never intended to release those new apps for the iTouch, and was caught off guard by all of the backlash and bad press... Unfortunately for them iPod revenue is probably claimed in entirety at sale.
Re:AEBS backups (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:MacBook Air USB peripherals (Score:2, Insightful)
MacBook Air USB Details [electronista.com]
Re:AEBS backups (Score:3, Insightful)
I agree with your second point, which is why I have since upgraded to a larger drive for Time Machine.
Re:How about fixing Finder? (Score:3, Insightful)
How, exactly, do you propose doing this?
Some small visual clue - eg. a small triangle pointing down and right, which is what was used on KDE (may still be -- I haven't used KDE for a while).
Rich.
Re:Without reading the reversion list (Score:4, Insightful)
Directions from Apple. With screenshots.
The iPod is designed to be synced with just one computer. That is the nature of the iTunes sync component and the iPod itself. I have never heard of this bidirectional sync "optional plug-in" the original poster was referring to. Also - I have been bidirectionally syncing devices (Palm, PDAs, phones, etc.) for years now, and have supported people who have done the same. One thing I have learned? Bidirectional syncing will delete information given enough information and enough time. It will break eventually. Restore from backups, erase a device, and resync. Annoying, but it is a fact of life when doing syncing. On the other hand I have never had issues with one-way syncing. So maybe Apple just made that decision to make things easier with less support needs.
So Apple gives clear directions for moving your music library from computer to computer, even using your iPod.
The only reason Apple impose this artificial limitation on customers is at the behest of their real customers - the RIAA, et al.
Yes, it is simply that black and white. A company either screws their customers or does everything for them.
Have you no idea of balance? A company says "Hey, we can do more for our customers (and therefore sell more product) if we make these small concessions to other big companies?"
For example - "Hey, if we include DRM on our music store, then get so big that we have enough power to push the distribution companies into allowing us to sell non-DRM music, that will be to the long-term benefit of our customer (with the benefit being that we will sell even MORE music."
No, according to you the company should never bend slightly, and instead should never give in, even if it is to the detriment of both the company and its customers.
Re:Without reading the reversion list (Score:2, Insightful)
No, it's more like putting a device in the car that prevents you from speeding under any circumstances.
Do you think that would be a good idea?