Following our recent report on the “Mac Pro build” of OS X Leopard, 9C16 and recent seeds of 10.5.2, Apple has posted a new seed for third party developers to evaluate, 9C23. The already extremely lengthy changelist and fast-growing update package is now over well into the hundreds of megabytes and could eventually exceed 400MB(!), making it the single largest point update to OS X ever.
Depending on whether one is updating a PowerPC or Intel Mac, packages could vary from 250 to upwards of 400MB in size, and some on the grapevine believe its final weigh-in could be very close to five hundred megabytes.
Either way, it will be a huge download and there has been a lot of debate at Infinite Loop, according to reliable sources, as to whether the update should be split into multiple packages (the core system update, and individual updates to applications or components), hold back some changes for Security Updates that will follow shortly after the point upgrade…..or a more unusual solution, such as offering the update with a nominal pricetag of a few dollars on a CD-ROM disk for purchase at the Apple Store, to ease the burden on modem users or others for whom such a massive download is impractical.
For the rest of us, in the broadband age, a 500MB download isn’t such a big deal, but it will still be a huge strain on Cupertino’s bandwidth at a time when things like HD movie rentals and other new offerings are already rapidly expanding Infinite Loop’s bandwidth usage.
To prepare for the update, which was originally slated to have already been released but due to a huge changelog and the need for extra upstream bandwidth to be allocated for the huge surge that the Software Update release will bring, Apple’s network engineers have been frantically working overtime and on weekends to install new fiber, routers, servers and infrastructure to be ready for this.
One 500MB download might not be enough to bring Apple’s servers to a crawl on their own, or even coupled with the new HD movie downloads and ever-growing iTunes Store…..but Apple is also about to begin offering iPhone applications for sale and has a “major new .Mac related offering” to announce in March — about which we will soon be rumor-mongering, so stay tuned on that! — so adapting to all of these needs at once has proven quite a challenge for the usually unflappable network techs in Cupertino.
According to reliable sources, the final release of 10.5.2 will most likely come around build 9C40 and should arrive well before the end of February — quite possibly in as little as two weeks, if Tron’s latest “postcards from Silicon Valley” are accurate — so stay tuned for all the latest OS X update coverage and all the dirt that’s fit to print right here on Mac OS Rumors!
14 responses so far ↓
1 Siemova // Jan 30, 2008 at 10:12 am
Thanks for this! Last I heard from the other rumor sites, 10.5.2 was probably coming Any Day Now. But when that got pushed back, none of them said anything. What I appreciate most about you guys is that you often fill in the blanks.
2 steve // Jan 31, 2008 at 12:06 pm
Distribution bandwidth isn’t going to be a real problem for something like this, akamai and the other content networks can handle this with ease.
But they should still distribute it other ways for people with limited bandwidth. For instance people with hard caps who must watch how much the download per month.
3 Entasis // Jan 31, 2008 at 1:10 pm
Yes, thanks for the information as I have put my hopes for 10.5.2 on the side lines. Apple is having major growing pains, and it is starting to show. I would much rather receive OS updates based upon what I truly use versus what Apple wants to stuff in regarding all their venues. The more successful Apple becomes—the more it is starting to look and act like others that most Apple users do not like.
4 crosseyed // Jan 31, 2008 at 4:21 pm
I would like to see the CD personally or break it into multiple packages. I know many people that couldn’t begin to download a 300 plus MB update. It can easily take 2 days time to download 150MB with speed download. Without such a program downloading a file that size is futile when it come to dial up and the frequent disconnect interruptions.
5 What's the frequency, Kenneth? // Jan 31, 2008 at 4:22 pm
No kidding! Thanks for the update. I’ve been waiting for 10.5.2 ever since 10.5.1 came out so quickly (I never install a .0 and rarely a .1.)
One word for Apple regarding their conundrum: bittorrent.
You’d think system updates would be a perfect application of bittorrent technology. They should at least offer downloads as torrents, even if they haven’t figured out how to use the model for the control panel. I’d happily use bittorrent to update the family’s Macs (I support three households) if given the opportunity.
6 PIF // Jan 31, 2008 at 8:15 pm
There was a rumor once upon a time that APPL was going to have some bittorrent-like function built into 10.5
FWIW
7 Ash // Jan 31, 2008 at 8:19 pm
Bittorent? It would never get delivered, you need a LOT of machines for that to work, right? Despite all this seeming success, Macs are still a very small percentage of computers. Just download the update directly and share to each Mac, then you get it quickly!
8 admin // Feb 1, 2008 at 2:38 am
Yeah, Rumors actually was one of the first to report on the “BitTorrent in Leopard” stories…..turns out the project wasn’t really coupled to Leopard, and it’s actually part of a “P2P Alternative” project that Apple is working on with its TV/Film/Music industry partners to distribute free content directly between Mac users, using the “BitTorrent-like” technology to help users find the closest/fastest peer(s) to grab a given file from.
We think we’ll be hearing more about this technology when Apple finally announces its major overhaul of .Mac — a full story on this is coming up soon. One really interesting rumor, which we hope is true but haven’t been able to confirm: .Mac may split into “free” and “premium/VIP” versions so that Apple can entice customers with nifty .Mac tools & services, get them used to them, and have an attractive set of enhancements/extras for a much better value package than today’s dot-Mac.
We can dream…..but hopefully, this particular rumor is more than just a dream.
9 Siemova // Feb 1, 2008 at 10:16 am
Well, if they used BT for software updates, it could work pretty much like Blizzard Entertainment’s game patches, where Apple would serve them but other users would share as well to decrease the load on their servers and speed things up for everyone. The end user wouldn’t even have to see anything different.
By the way, MacRumors, I’d like to request that you disable the automatic page refresh, at least on article pages. It’s frustrating to have the page refresh while you’re in the middle of commenting.
10 Greg // Feb 1, 2008 at 5:10 pm
500MB is large! But if Apple can’t handle that then they should not be involved with movie rentals at all! I just hope it doesn’t auto download during my peak time… I don’t want to eat into my peak cap. (then again - iTunes music is quota free and it seems Apple updates might be too.)
I would like to see a Bittorrent-like download solution combined with the local Akamai servers. IF they can take the pressure off the internet backbone by using only nearby peers (and Akamai) that’d be great. They could even offer a rebate for people willing to upload.
11 Ken // Feb 2, 2008 at 2:31 pm
It’s not that large. Apple is doing HD rentals now (or will be soon). Compared to that, half-a-gig is small. Apple should make it available the usual way (through Software Update), and for those with lower bandwidth, make an update CD or DVD to give away for free at the Apple Stores. Don’t charge for it, since the reason it’s so large is Apple’s mistake. When Apple released Mac OS X 10.1, it gave away free update CDs at MacWorld and at the stores for the early adopters who paid for Mac OS X 10.0.
12 Plugs 'N Pixels // Feb 3, 2008 at 6:04 pm
IT folks such as myself should think about doing only one download and locally applying it to the rest of the computers using Apple Remote Desktop. It would be a crazy strain on everyone’s bandwidth to do individual downloads for each machine in multiple labs or offices!
13 jimmy // Feb 5, 2008 at 9:42 am
I always download & burn the 10.x.x.x Combined updaters anyway…
14 Matt // Feb 8, 2008 at 11:32 pm
I don’t think bandwidth is an issue.. Honestly, who can’t steal a WiFi connection somewhere that has high speed access if they can’t get it at home? This is 2008 after all..
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