Apple Computer Inc. on Wednesday released an update to Mac OS X Panther, bringing the current version of the operating system to 10.3.7. The update includes “enhanced functionality and improved reliability” and is recommended for all users.
According to Apple Mac OS X 10.3.7 offers improved AFP support for saving documents with long file names; improved OpenGL technology and updated ATI and NVIDIA graphics drivers; improved FireWire device compatibility; updated Preview application; improved compatibility for third party applications; and previous standalone security updates.
Application improvements
Improvements to existing applications were a focus of the current update, where Apple made several changes.
An issue was resolved with Apple’s text editing application, TextEdit, allowing it to open certain RTF documents that previously wouldn’t open, resulting in an error message. The update also improves compatibility with Pacific Tech’s Graphing Calculator 3.5, fixing an issue where some 3D surfaces might not render in Mac OS X 10.3.6.
Improvements to networking in Mac OS X 10.3.7 will solve an issue that many users have experienced since installing Security Update 2004-09-30 with Mac OS X 10.3.5 or later. Safari, Mail and other networking applications that use DNS lookups will no longer have intermittent connectivity issues, according to Apple.
Mac OS X users that play Blizzard’s World of Warcraft will be especially happy with this update — Mac OS X 10.3.7 addresses three separate issues with the popular game.
First, the update addresses an issue with World of Warcraft in which the game’s frame rate could drop considerably when in “Ghost mode,” if the computer uses an Nvidia graphics card. Another issue with Nvidia graphics cards was also fixed where enabling Vertex Shaders in World of Warcraft could lead to unexpected graphics issues.
Owners of ATI’s Radeon 9600 also received a fix in this update, addressing an issue with World of Warcraft in which incorrect colors or unexpectedly flashing objects could appear, making gameplay difficult.
Other issues resolved
Apple also tackled several other issues in Mac OS X 10.3.7, fixing a number of PDF and video-based problems.
With the update installed users can now view E*TRADE PDF account statements in Preview. Shadowed text in a PDF file, which didn’t always print as it appeared on the screen when printing to a raster printer, has also been fixed.
Users of certain PowerBooks had an issue when connecting an Apple Cinema 22-inch display where random “stuttering” or other graphics anomalies in the Finder and DVD Player occurred. This, as well as an issue with Mac OS X 10.3.6 in which DVD Player might not open on some Power Mac G4 computers that use an ATI Radeon 9800 AGP video card, have been fixed.
Mac OS X 10.3.7 is available for download from Apple’s Web site or using the Software Update Control Panel.
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