Mac OS X 10.6 to Rely on Just-in-Time Downloads

New findings within Apple's latest iteration of Mac OS X, Snow Leopard, reveal that the OS will rely on fetching subsets of drivers for the devices connecting to the Mac it's running on. This is an effort in reducing the overall footprint of Mac OS X, AppleInsider unveils.

People familiar with the latest Snow Leopard builds have told the site that “With the release of Snow Leopard this spring, Apple will put an end to the default installation of tons of drivers ... Instead, it will only install a select subset of drivers, including support for any currently attached printers or those that had been installed on the same Mac under previous versions of Mac OS X.” Moreover, the same people say Snow Leopard will review devices attached via USB. The process, followed by a scan of the network for any printers advertised as available via Bonjour will allow the creation of a short list of drivers that need to be installed. As such, Snow Leopard will use Software Update to check for drivers online when any new printers are attached after the installation of the OS.

Needless to say, the new method will greatly expand the availability of free disk space on any system running OS X 10.6, while the savings related to the new HFS+ file compression will be compounded for compacting read only files. The entire process will also reduce the size of the applications themselves.

AppleInsider points out to a similar practice exercised by Apple with GarageBand '09. The new version of Apple's music producing and editing application now includes a number of video instructions for learning how to play instruments like the guitar and the piano. GarageBand '09 allows the user to download the desired lesson(s) individually, saving disk space, rather than installing them along with the actual program.

Reportedly, the latest Snow Leopard test build delivered to Apple's developer community is Build 10A261. Upon receiving the new beta OS, developers announced a noticeable increase in stability, but almost no visible changes to the UI.

Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard is expected to arrive in Q1 2009.