Apple updates Tiger with Safari 3, security fixes

Apple is taking Tiger to 11.

The company released a major update to Mac OS X 10.4 on Wednesday that delivers several improvements, fixes some bugs, and patches several security holes identified in recent months. Mac OS X 10.4.11 is immediately available through Software Update, or it can be downloaded from Apple's Web site.

Listing every feature contained in the new update would probably set a record for wordiness in this blog, so I'm not going to do that, and instead will point you here to an informational document on Apple's site. A couple of highlights that I will call out are RAW image support for some Panasonic, Olympus, Leica, and Canon cameras as well as reliability improvements for Intel-based Macs running VMware's Fusion virtualization software. Other Mac users might be interested to know that 10.4.11 improves the reliability of mounting external hard drives and a Mac's compatibility with third-party wireless networking equipment, which has been a perennial issue for me and my Linksys router.

Dozens of security updates were delivered along with the 10.4.11 release, some of which could theoretically lead to remote code execution. All of those patches are included as part of the update--you won't need to download them separately--and Ryan Naraine at ZDNet has more details on what has been fixed. A separate batch of security patches is also available for Panther users (Mac OS X 10.3) that corrects the issues contained in the Tiger security updates that are also relevant to Panther users.

Another point worth noting is that Safari 3 is now officially out of beta for Mac users, and it's included along with the rest of the update. Those using Safari 3 on Windows, however, are still still in beta, and they need to download a security update released on Wednesday along with the rest of the downloads.

To top it all off, Apple released updates for several applications like iPhoto and some professional tools like Final Cut Pro. The entire list of downloads made available Wednesday can be found here, but Software Update should prompt you to download the ones that are relevant to your system.

There are two choices for the update: you can download just the 10.4.11 update if you've kept current with the other incremental releases, or you can download a combo update if you're still running 10.4.9 or earlier versions of Tiger. The standalone update for Intel Macs is 128MBs, while the combo update is 321.5MBs. The PowerPC versions are about half that size.

I asked an Apple representative why they just didn't make Mac OS X 10.4.10 more complete, and he said, "But this one goes to 11." (Just kidding.) The first update to Leopard, Mac OS X 10.5.1, should be out fairly soon if Apple follows the same plan it did after it released Tiger in April 2005.

[internetworld7]

Simply Impressive

The first beta version of Safari 3 for Windows was unbearable!
However, this updated beta version is gorgeous, lightning fast,
much more stable, improved compatibility with websites,
launches faster and now includes inline spell checking,
something that is quite loved in Firefox.

I hope Apple includes session saving and the option to open all
links in tabs in the future.

Simply put, this updated version of Safari beta 3 is VERY
promising for the future although there are still bugs to be
worked out before a final version is released but it has already
become my default browser. On a Mac, the final version has
already been released and I can't wait to see what it is like when
I get my new Macbook November 30th of this year! Woohoo! ^--
^

[olliej]

Safari 3.0.4 isn't a security update

From the Safari website it is plainly obvious that 3.0.4 is not a
"security update" -- it lists a large number of new features and
non-security fixes. This is very easily to see when you compare
to the 3.0.3 update details list just below, which says
"* Latest security updates
* Improved stability"

Compared to maybe 20 items listed for 3.0.4.

[Tom Krazit]

Lots of security updates in 3.0.4

You're right in that there are a lot of new features with the new beta, but there were eight patches delivered along with the update.

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=307038

When I came across all these updates yesterday, I saw the Safari updates listed in the security downloads section on Apple's Web site, not on the Safari site itself. So I focused on the security part for this report on the 284 things (give or take) that Apple released yesterday.

[stockyjoe]

Safari getting better

Its getting better even on windows and the speed..Wow. it makes Firefox seem like a sloth, although I'd say both Opera and Safari are impressive.

[rapier1]

Not so much difference for me

Its still a dog on my 12"PB. There seems to be an inability for it
to give up memory. After 2 hours of use its using 1/3rd of my
total system memory (RPRVT so its not swapped) and nearly
800MB of swap. It need to be less aggressive abut its caching
and be more liberal in purging cache elements. I had been
hoping this would happen in Safari 3 but it looks like it didn't.

Now, this is more of a problem for me because I 'only' have
768MB of RAM but as the applications bloat this has become my
laptop's Achilles heel.

[bubaguy]

Safari

Safari need a lot of work.
We can't even use it at work to access our FTP server.