It turns out that Apple wasn’t content to simply release iOS 6 yesterday; Many OS X users were treated to updates as well. Granted, many of these updates added more interoperability with iOS 6, but each of these updates also addressed ongoing problems too, so you may want to update your Mac, even if you’re not planning on moving to iOS 6.
So, let’s take a look at what was updated.
- iOS 6 – This was the biggie for the day. See yesterday’s article for more info.
- OS X 10.8.2 – A bunch of little updates, including Facebook sharing integration, Power Nap support for the Late 2010 MacBook Air, and a number of iOS 6 interoperability options.
- OS X 10.7.5 – Lion users got an actual “point” upgrade, too. The most notable upgrade here is the addition of Apple’s Gatekeeper security feature.
- Security Update 20012-004 – 10.6.x Users also got at least a little something; a general security update that covered updates for 10.7.5 and 10.8.2
- Safari 6.0.1 – This adds some security measures to protect against maliciously-coded Web pages. It’s not a separate download; it’s currently only available when updating to 10.8.2 or 10.7.5
- Aperture 3.4 – This adds Shared Photo Stream support, along with other functionality and performance updates.
- iPhoto 9.4 – adds Share Photo Stream support, enhanced Facebook capabilities, new themes, and other improvements.
- Xcode 4.5 – This added 10.8 and iOS 6 SDKs, as well as other workflow updates.
- There are also a number of firmware updates. While there’s often a list of what this firmware addresses, there are often other “undocumented bonuses” to a firmware update, so you may want to upgrade anyway. You never know what kinds of extra performance benefits Apple may unofficially add, so if you’ve got one of these machines, it’s probably in your best interest to update:
- SMC Update for Late 2010 MacBook Air – Apple only mentions that this enables Power Nap Support.
- EFI Update for MacBook Pro with Retina display – This is said to resolve some processor hanging issues and NetBoot problems.
- EFI Update for MacBook Air (Mid 2012) – Addresses a similar NetBoot issue the rMBP update addresses, as well as fixes Turbo Boost with Boot Camp.
- EFI Update for MacBook Pro (Mid 2012) – Resolves a system hanging issue.
And while you’re running software updates, if you’ve got Microsoft Office 2008 or 2011, you may want to hit their updater as well, as both versions just got bumped up a little. 2008 consists mostly of stability updates, while 2011 gets Retina graphics support, as well as several updates to Outlook.
Good Morning All,
This sounds like it may be affecting a few people. Mr. Shaw, your point is extremely valid, thank you for sharing with us all!
I can say that I myself always wait and see how it goes for the early adopters before clicking to start an update. And a full system backup is a must at all times imho! With the great prices we offer on external solutions and the dropping cost of even the larger HDD’s, there’s no excuse to not have a backup. I can tell you from personal experience, it’s heartbreaking to hear of these failures and how they can affect peoples lives, personally and professionally.
Personally, I have a drive that’s partitioned with a full clone on half and Time Machine happily backing up to the other. I have a laptop so I just plug in my little Express case once a week. (unless I’m working on something particularly important in between, you know.. like a new world in Minecraft. ;) ) And my music library and important docs (taxes, ick) backed up to DVD’s as well, just in case. I keep them in my lock box so I don’t have to worry about the ‘safe place’ I put them being not so safe after-all.
That said, while we can’t officially confirm yet if there’s something up with the recent 10.8.2. I am lucky enough to sit right next to our technical support department and the buzz on the aisle is that if you’re having problems, (and fully backed up via a Time Machine backup of your entire system) you may want to roll back to 10.8.1.
Just please note that doing so will have time machine do a full backup after this. This is normal. :)
Hope this helps! As always, thank you for reading and commenting and let us know if there’s anything else we can do to help!
Amazing, I got an 8 year old G5 Mac and Word 2008 and this prompted me to run the update thing and yes, I actually have the update. Props on Microsoft still giving updates to a Mac product when Apple left it behind… LOLZ AT THE IRONY. <3
The 10.8.2 update bricked my 2007 MacBook Pro.
No boot chime. Screen doesn’t power on.
Only sign of any life is the power light.
The problem with all of these updates hitting at the same time is that there are a number of users reporting serious issues with their Macs and Apple products such as Aperture 3.4, post update. The boards are reporting a number of problems with Aperture 3.4, for example. It is always best to wait a few days to be sure the updates are not fixing old issues but creating new problems. New features and enhanced security are great so long as they don’t break an important App. Also, I would strongly recommend everyone having a full backup before undertaking major system updates. A number of people apparently are not doing that. You might consider emphasizing it when you talk about aggressively pursuing system updates.