A pple has released an update for Mac OS X, the 10.1.5 release hinted at by Microsoft yesterday. The new version includes a variety of new features and other improvements, including support for many new FireWire devices, improvements to Mail, several security enhancements, improvements to iDiskis WebDAV support, and Korean and Chineese localization improvements.
The most significant new feature, however, is "Support for 2D and QuickTime hardware acceleration for Rage Pro." This effects many Mac users using older iMacs and Beige G3 owners, and addresses a long-standing complaint from these users. The company also inlcudes updated Carbon support that allows Quartz anti-aliasing (font smoothing) in Carbon apps. Until now, only Cocoa apps could take advantage of this technology. Mondayis update to Office v. X includes support for this, and we expect Internet Explorer to be updated as well.
From Software Updateis list of changes:
Update 10.1.5 delivers enhancements which improve the reliability of Mac OS X applications, delivers improved networking, security, support for PC Card serial communication devices, and expanded peripheral device support. Specific improvements include:
- Peripheral Device Support:
- Expanded support for new Canon digital cameras.
- Improved support for Nikon FireWire cameras.
- Expanded support for SmartDisk, EZQuest, and LaCie disc recording devices.
- Improved support for MO drives.
Application Improvements:
- Increased stability of Mail and Sherlock.
- Emails are properly retained when rebuilding the Draft mailbox.
- Support for 2D and QuickTime hardware acceleration for Rage Pro.
- Updated Carbon applications can use Quartz anti-aliasing technology for high quality text display.
Networking and Security Improvements:
- Improves networking via AFP when accessing multi-level directories on Windows NT file servers.
- Significant improvement to file searching on local and remote volumes.
- Includes a generic PC Card driver to support a variety of PC Card modems.
- Mail accounts go offline to indicate that SSL encryption settings are not supported by mail server.
- Includes the Security Update April 2002.
WebDAV Improvements:
- More efficient iDisk mounting and file navigation.
- Added support for connecting to iDisk using default DNS settings of AirPort.
- Support for mounting a WebDAV volume from a non-standard http port.
Asian Language Improvements:
- Significant updates to the Korean Input Method, especially important when using AppleWorks.
- Internet Connect and AirPort applications updated with Chinese and Korean localized content.
You can update to Mac OS X 10.1.5 through your Software Update Control Panel in Mac OS X. Appleis Mac OS X page also now includes information on the update.
Thanks to Observers Nik Stanosheck and David Nelson for the heads up on ths.