14 DAY TRIAL // Apple is reportedly preparing to send out what AppleInsider’s sources say are “the first external builds” of Mac OS X 10.6.3. The upcoming incremental update to Apple's Snow Leopard operating system should arrive as soon as this week, the site has been told, while no information is yet available as to what the builds will carry in terms of changes.
According to people familiar with the matter speaking to the aforementioned Apple-focused site, “The forthcoming builds are likely to be released to some developers in the next 48 hours, and carry the expected prefix of 10Dxx.” “It is not yet known what issues Apple hopes to address with the latest update,” these people say, although the seed notes are usually leaked to the Internet hours (sometimes even minutes) into the seeding.
It is fair to assume Mac OS X 10.6.3 will pack mostly fixes for the numerous key areas of the OS, as well as patches for whatever vulnerabilities have been discovered by security experts since the release of Mac OS X 10.6.2.
Speaking of which, Snow Leopard users may recall that, among the various changes included with the second incremental update to Mac OS X 10.6, Apple addressed a data-wiping bug affecting a limited number of users. Arriving two months after the first incremental update to Snow Leopard, 10.6.2 is currently the newest version of Mac OS X. Version 10.6.1, the first maintenance and security update published by Apple following the operating system’s debut, was just two weeks in development.
Softpedia would like to add that a number of readers have expressed deep dissatisfaction with some of Snow Leopard’s functionality, urging Apple to include what they believe would be vital additions for making the OS more user-friendly / less frustrating to use in certain situations. Many of them have simpler suggestions for Apple, but they’re equally important from where we stand. Like them, we would be extremely pleased to see Apple address some of these requests in the new version of Snow Leopard.