Betalogue

The Apple people who put together the information regarding Mac OS X security updates really have a way of making you feel dumb. I’ve already discussed serious issues about the way Apple shared its information regarding previous updates. It’s not getting any better.

Today, Apple simultaneously released the Mac OS X 10.3.5 system update and a new security update called “Security Update 2004-08-09 (10.3.5)“.

Is the new security update included in Mac OS X 10.3.5, or does it need to be installed separately? I’ve looked at the various pages provided by Apple, and I am still confused.

This page says that it “is recommended for all Macintosh users“, which obviously doesn’t help. Does it mean I have to install it if I am running Mac OS 7.5 on a Mac LC? Ahem.

The same page also includes a link “for more detailed information on this Update“, which points to a README Note that contains… the exact same information (or lack thereof). Ahem again.

Then there is the famous “Apple Security Updates” page. What does it say? “Security updates are listed below according to the software release in which they first appeared.” Well, I don’t know, but is this supposed to mean that the “Security Update 2004-08-09 (10.3.5)” appeared both in and next to Mac OS X 10.3.5 at the same time? Why is it called “Security Update 2004-08-09 (10.3.5)”? Shouldn’t it be called “Security Update 2004-08-09 (10.3.4)”?

If you scroll down this page, you’ll see that the heading for this latest security update reads: “Security Update 2004-08-09 (Mac OS X 10.3.4 and Mac OS X 10.2.8)“. So, which is it? 10.3.5 or 10.3.4?

Gee whiz.

This entry was posted by Pierre Igot on Tuesday, August 10th, 2004 at 12:40 am and is filed under Macintosh. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.