Tuesday, March 16, 2010, 05:00 pm

Apple asks developers to test fonts in latest Mac OS X 10.6.3 beta

By Katie Marsal

Apple on Tuesday afternoon pushed out another private beta of Mac OS X 10.6.3, asking its developer community to test font compatibility and stability alongside a handful of other components that have been in need of evaluation for the past several weeks.

Those other components include iCal, QuickTime and graphics drivers, according to people familiar with the beta software. The last private beta, distributed March 5th and labeled build 10D567, also listed those components as focus areas, in addition to Rosetta and third party printer drivers.

When it's released later this month, Mac OS X 10.6.3 will bundle an update to QuickTime X that improves security and compatibility while also enhancing overall reliability of the media software.

The Snow Leopard update will also include tweaks that enhance the performance of Apple's 64-bit Logic pro audio suite and deliver better compatibility with third-party printers and OpenGL-grounded applications.

Other fixes baked into the release target issues with mail messages displaying the incorrect background color and problems copying files to a shared Windows volume.

The latest beta carries build number 10D571 and weighs in around 700MB.