Some analysts and Mac users expected Apple to use Tuesday’s iPhone event to announce the availability of the OS X Mavericks 10.9 Gold Master seed for registered developers. It didn’t happen. The general acceptance is that the Cupertino based company applied all of its collective efforts and resources into ensuring that iOS 7 and the two new iPhone models were launched without issue. We now expect OS X 10.9 to land next month at some point, but for those who simply can’t wait for new stuff, Apple has today pushed out a point version of OS X Mountain Lion 10.8 that fixes a number of niggling issues.
OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.5 has been undergoing a rather extensive beta test for quite some time, with the hope of eradicating as many reported bugs and issues as possible. Following a successful completion of that beta test, Apple has deemed the software publicly ready and have pushed out version 10.8.5 of OS X Mountain Lion that is filtering its way through the Mac App Store to the machines of affected users.
OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.5 focuses on a number of key areas that have been causing users some concerns for quite a while. The update should immediately fix an issue with the native Mail app that had affected a certain set of users that prevented specific incoming messages from being displayed in the app. Apple has also bundled in improvements to file transfer performance over 802.11ac Wi-Fi connections. Any Mountain Lion user who has had issues with automatic screen savers should also find the issue resolved with this release.
The update – which should begin to show up on the Mac App Store any time now – is recommended as a vital installation for all OS X Mountain Lion users due to the fact that it improves stability, compatibility and overall security of the Mac that it’s running on. As with any vital software update of this nature, Apple is recommending that all users make a Time Machine backup of their Mac before proceeding with the system update.
A number of other smaller but important fixes are also included as part of the bundle, including improved Xsan reliability smart card improvements. A number of us may be planning on jumping ship next month to OS X Mavericks, but for those who are happy with Mountain Lion, it’s great to see the improvements coming through from Apple.
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