OS X 10.5.6: what's inside this whopping update

Tin (Senior Forumologist):

Oh thank goodness they finally fixed that Chess reliability issue. My board was missing a rubber leg before and kept wobbly making anything taller than a rook fall over.
I install it by downloading it over-knight off the internet instead of watching pawn, right?

djsflynn (APC staff):

Man, this is the sort of update that really screws anyone with a low download limit on their broadband account!

I'm not taking a shot at Apple specifically, so no need for Mac fanbois to get their togas in a twist... just saying that all those people who signed up for the basic Big Pond with a 400MB monthly limit (a LOT of normal folk who're using an iMac as their home computer - my Dad being among them!) will find this month they get a bit of a surprise when their bill comes in because this one update will push them right up to (or likely over) the limit.

McBanjo (User):

Quoting djsflynn:
Man, this is the sort of update that really screws anyone with a low download limit on their broadband account!

Granted, but if you still have a 400MB limit on your account, you probably don't need an update to push all your contacts, calendars and bookmarks to the web. And if you still get a bill for excess data usage, you need to change internet plans. (Anyway the Software Update only showed me a size of 185MB). The best option in this situation would be to just rely on your son to come over and install the update on your behalf ;-).

What I find most stupid is that Apple finally decides to fix MobileMe so it pushes, and this is 'after' my (and many other) trial MobileMe accounts expired. I found that using free solutions like Google's CalDAV and nuevasync were much more effective and reliable considering that MobileMe wasn't pushing very well, if at all, and Apple's charging $120 a year for the annoyance. Now that I've found a free solution that works, I don't think I'm even going to bother opening another trial account to test push.

djsflynn (APC staff):

Quoting McBanjo:
And if you still get a bill for excess data usage, you need to change internet plans... The best option in this situation would be to just rely on your son to come over and install the update on your behalf ;-).

Both are in play! Am shifting dad to a new ISP in the coming weeks, and giving him a USB stick with the update on it when we catch up for a cuppa on Sunday.

plutonium210 (Advanced member):

668 MB !!!!
That's not an update .......... That's a new operating system !
As an Apple fanboy, I'm not very happy with the way Mac OSX is heading !
Apple seems to be aping the MS OS strategy :S

McBanjo (User):

668MB is very modest considering it includes every single security update and feature introduced since the launch of Leopard. Hard Drives are hundreds of gigabytes these days, so what's the point of wasting resources and man hours to slash a couple of hundred MBs off at the expense of a proper update?

Your Average Joe (Senior member):

Quoting McBanjo:
Hard Drives are hundreds of gigabytes these days, so what's the point of wasting resources and man hours to slash a couple of hundred MBs off at the expense of a proper update

This has been my crusade against the proponents of 'bloatware' for years ! Hardware is so cheap these days that a 20 gig OS install is nothing !

Although the irony here is that if this was a MS Win patch, there would be roars of outrage and people demanding blood because of its size !

Raindog (Senior Forumologist):

Quoting Your Average Joe:
Hardware is so cheap these days that a 20 gig OS install is nothing !

But 20Gb of download isn't cheap! Neither is the storage needed to backup 20Gb for every seat in the office. If the software was coded more efficiently the hardware could be a lot cheaper still.

Quoting Your Average Joe:
so what's the point of wasting resources and man hours to slash a couple of hundred MBs off at the expense of a proper update

A well written update would offer both. Running more code rather than well scripted code will always incur a time penalty.

Tin (Senior Forumologist):

Quoting Raindog:
But 20Gb of download isn't cheap!


And it can't be cheap for Apple/MS either when you consider how much bandwidth is chewed through just for these updates.


Quoting Raindog:
A well written update would offer both. Running more code rather than well scripted code will always incur a time penalty.

Damn straight. And additionally, large code means more chance for bugs, which means more updates. Coding tightly and sensibly, while costing more at the time, leads to lower long term costs...
Of course the problem could well be that some managers at these places see lines of code as a performance measure. More lines = more productive in some minds (and leads to many functions that don't do anything ;-)

McBanjo (User):

I'm sure they did try really hard to get the size down, but there is definitely a limit. Apple should only lower the size until the marginal benefits equal the marginal costs of doing so. To go any further would be ridiculous. People aren't forced to update, it is merely recommended. And seriously, we're nearly in 2009, if you have an issue with a few hundred MB, you've got no chance going into the second decade of 2000. US users (which is what most Apple customers are) don't have any download limits either, so we're talking such a small percentage that have even a mild issue in the first place.

CBR1100XX (Advanced member):

Quoting plutonium210:
Apple seems to be aping the MS OS strategy

LOL !!!
Pretty soon you'll all be whinging about virus and other malicious attacks through your browser !

@ APC
Did you guys catch that piece of news on the ABC regarding the gaping security leak through IE7 ?
IE users should download the latest patches from MS .......... NOW !!!

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/12/16/2448302.htm

Your Average Joe (Senior member):

Quoting CBR1100XX:
Did you guys catch that piece of news on the ABC

Interesting to read how large a market share IE has :)

Tin (Senior Forumologist):

Quoting Your Average Joe:
Interesting to read how large a market share IE has :)


It's "vast"!
Pity there's no solid way to calculate browser market share (same with OS market share) since users are free to change and browsers in general are free software.