Mac OX 10.6.3 Build 10D567 Notes Suggest Public Release

People familiar with Apple’s Mac OS X development cycles can confirm that version 10.6.3 of the software is still being tested. Although Mac OS X 10.6.3 continues to contain no known issues, developers are telling World of Apple that the company headquartered in Cupertino, California has asked them to focus their attention on Graphics Drivers, iChat, QuickTime, Printing and Rosetta. More importantly, the format of the included seed notes suggests that a public release is just around the corner.

As usual, World of Apple has been able to produce the seed notes included with Build 10D567 of Mac OS X 10.6.3, the third maintenance and security update to the Snow Leopard operating system. Interestingly, in a manner typical tot that of a public release, the notes reveal that “The 10.6.3 Update is recommended for all users running Mac OS X Snow Leopard and includes general operating system fixes that enhance the stability, compatibility, and security of your Mac, including fixes that:

- improve the reliability and compatibility of QuickTime X
- address compatibility issues with OpenGL-based applications
- address an issue that causes background message colors to display incorrectly in Mail
- resolve an issue that prevented files with the # or & characters in their names from opening in Rosetta applications
- resolve an issue that prevented files from copying to Windows file servers
- improve performance of Logic Pro 9 and Main Stage 2 when running in 64-bit mode
- improve sleep and wake reliability when using Bonjour wake on demand
- address a color issue in iMovie with HD content
- improve printing reliability
- resolve issues with recurring events in iCal when connected to an Exchange server
- improve the reliability of 3rd party USB input devices
- fix glowing, stuck, or dark pixels when viewing video from the iMac (Late 2009) built-in iSight camera.”

Even more interesting is that, World of Apple, which has a proven track record in accurately reporting Mac OS X developments, doesn’t acknowledge that 10D567 notes sound like a typical Apple software update. For several 10.6.3 builds now, Apple has been steadily reducing the number focus areas while listing no known issues with the software. Every one of these recent development releases indicated that OS X 10.6.3 was close, or very close to its final, public launch. Apple did not confirm our expectations, although this new build (10D567) contains what is probably the best indication that 10.6.3 testing is wrapping up.