CNet is reporting that Apple is now aware, and preparing a fix for a bug in Snow Leopard that wipes user data. This bug appears to affect only Guest accounts, in particular when Guest accounts were in enabled under machines running Leopard, but were later upgraded to Snow Leopard. Users would be logged into Guest accounts upon booting their machines, when switching back to their regular account, the user finds that their data has been lost, which is only recoverable from backup.
Apparently this bug has been know for some time now, but has only recently gained attention from Apple.
CNet:
This could be due to a bug in how guest accounts are managed since data and settings are deleted from these accounts upon logout, but also could be from some corruption in the guest account. So far, it does not seem to be a widespread problem.
If this happens to you, immediately restore using your latest Time Machine backup (or other full system backup), and then go to the Accounts system preferences and disable log-in on the guest account.
One way to avoid this problem is to disable Guest accounts under Leopard, upgrade to Snow Leopard, and then reenabled after the upgrade is complete.
Okay, everyone get out their stopwatches; we’ll see how long it takes Apple to fix this. Not long I wager, if for no other reason than it is a serious bug.
MacRumros is reporting that Apple has seeded another build of Mac OS X 10.6.2 to developers. This build (Build 10C519f), is 456.8MB in size, and reportedly makes 12 new changes, in addition to all of the changes made in the first build on Monday.
Apple is also asking developers to focus their testing on nearly 150 different areas. There are only four outstanding issues which involve video corruption, Core Data output, and System Preferences hanging.
Although it is early in the development cycle, increased build seeding is a fairly reliable indication that public release is right around the corner. As always, we’ll keep you posted.
Apple has seeded developers with a build (10C514f) of Mac OS X 10.6.2. This comes slightly less than a month after the 10.6.1 update was released to the public.
According to MacRumors, the build addresses many bugs in the following areas:
Address Book, AppleScript, AppleScriptObjC, ATS, ColorSync, Component Manager, Core Animation, Core Audio, Core Chinese Engine, Core Data, Core Graphics, Core Text, File Manager, Garbage Collection, Graphic drivers, Help Viewer, ImageKit, IOHIDFamily, Networking, NS Image, OpenCL, OpenGL, OSA, QT Kit, Speech Recognition, Sync Services, and Xtype.
The seed notes also include a warning regarding a optical drives. Supposedly the drives may not be recognized, the media may not eject, or DVD Player may hang.
Market research firm NPD is reporting that Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard sold twice as many copies in its first two weeks of sale, than Leopard did in its first two weeks of sale back in October of 2007. In addition, Snow Leopard sold four times faster than Mac OS X Tiger in 2005.
“Even though some considered Snow Leopard to be less feature-focused than the releases of Leopard or Tiger, the ease of upgrading to Snow Leopard and the affordable pricing made it a win-win for Apple computer owners – thus helping to push sales to record numbers” said Stephen Baker, vice president of industry analysis at NPD.
The antivirus company Sophos is reporting that Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard is shipping with a previous version of Flash. The problem? Flash has been updated since then, patching several security vulnerabilities. The biggest problem is that, an upgrade installation of Snow Leopard on top of Leopard installation containing the most recent Flash Player, downgrades Flash to the earlier version without warning the user.
Unfortunately during the course of that update (and unknown to you) Apple downgraded your installation of Flash to an earlier version (version 10.0.23.1), which is known not to be secure and is not patched against various security vulnerabilities.
The version you should be running is the latest version of Flash Player for Mac – 10.0.32.18.
Mac users are not informed that Snow Leopard has downgraded their version of Flash without permission, and that they are now exposed to a raft of potential attacks and exploits which have been targeted on Adobe’s software in recent months.
Snow Leopard is now available for purchase. You can purchase a single user copy of Snow Leopard for $29, a family pack for $49, and if you bought a Mac after June 8th, 2009 you are eligible to purchase Snow Leopard for $9.95 through Apple’s Up-to-date program.
Did you order Snow Leopard? Are you going to order Snow Leopard? Tell us what you think by leaving a comment!
Apple has released this support document outlining what applications are known to be incompatible with Snow Leopard, and which applications simply won’t launch in Snow Leopard.
Software restricted during installation and migration
During installation, Snow Leopard moves known-incompatible software to a folder named Incompatible Software at the root level of the hard drive. If you see this folder on your Mac, use the table below to check with the software vendor to see if any Mac OS X v10.6 Snow Leopard-compatible updates are available.
Some of the know incompatible software titles include. Parallels v 2.5 and earlier, Norton Antivirus v11.0, and At&T Laptop Connect Card v 1.0.4,1.0.5,1.10.0, just to name the large developers. Most of the applications that are incompatible with Snow Leopard seem to be from relatively unheard of software developers.
Software restricted from opening
After installation if you try to open (“launch”) software known to quit unexpectedly, Snow Leopard will prevent the application from opening and you will receive a dialog notifying you of the incompatibility. If you see such a dialog on your Mac, use the table below, then check with the software vendor to see if any Mac OS X v10.6 Snow Leopard-compatible updates are available.
Some of the big name applications that will not launch in Snow Leopard include: Parallels Desktop v3.0, Ratatouille v1.1, Aperture v2.1.1 and earlier, and Keynote 4.2.5. This apps will not even launch in Snow Leopard, so don’t bother. Personally I’m kinda surprised these apps don’t run, especially some of the Apple apps.
The Mac Security Blog is claiming to have received reports of a antivirus or antimalware features built into Snow Leopard.
They go onto explain that details are scarce, but the included screenshot shows a Safari user attempting to download a malware file. This of course raises questions of Mac security, and how serious Apple is taking any possible threats.
Personally, I think it’s a fake. If this was an included feature one would think Apple would have at least briefly mentioned it in their Snow Leopard features page. There isn’t even a “new security feature” or anything else ambiguous that might mean this feature is included in this release. We’ll just have to wait and see if I’m wrong when Snow Leopard launch this Friday.
Image courtesy of The Mac Security Blog.
The Apple online store is now displaying that Snow Leopard will be delivered on August 28th for pre-order customers. This is ahead of the original planned September launch window. If you are a regular reader, you’ve no doubt read the recent rumors regarding Snow Leopard. Almost all reports lead to an August 28th release date.
Snow Leopard ships on August 28th. It is $29 for a single user disc, and $49 for a family pack. In addition, if you have bought a Mac on or after June 8th, 2009, you are eligible for Apple’s Up-to-date program.
Yes, I pre-ordered mine.
The Japanese Engadget site [Google translation] is reporting that a recent purchaser of a Mac Mini received a Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard install disc with their machine. There are even photos to back up this claim:
In addition, MacRumors is reporting that several customers who have pre-ordered Snow Leopard through Apple’s Up-to-date program have recently seen their order status change, now reading “prepared to ship”. There has been no formal announcement of when Snow Leopard will ship, but all signs are pointing to an imminent release.
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