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Apple seeds new Mac OS X build, threatens seed program

Apple Computer seeded developers on Wednesday with the third external build of Mac OS X 10.3.4 Panther. The seed carries build number 7H50 and weighs in at 39.2MB, up about a half megabyte in size from the previous build.

Once again, it appears that the company is rather disgruntled over the constant leakage of Mac OS X developer seed note content, and the subsequent media reports on the material.

"We recently noticed that after releasing the 10.3.4 7H46 Developer Seed, the contents of Seed Note were leaked. [...] The software is a development build which means there are changes and fixes that on occasion do not make it into the GM release, but the public reads the 'leaked info' and may assume the information is gospel," Apple reportedly told developers in notes accompanying the most recent seed. "Customers will be disappointed and/or may count on false information."

Apple has threatened a cessation of the Apple developer seeding program due to the confidentiality breaches. As a result, AppleInsider will not publish information reported from the most recent set of developer notes associated with build 7H50.

Prior to the most recent seeding, developers noted a list of Mac OS X components and applications that have received modifications as part of the Mac OS X 10.3.4 seeds. Included in this list are the Address Book, Image Capture, Internet Connect, Mail, Preview, Safari, and Stickies applications. A small number of utilities such as Installer, System Profiler and X11 have also seen updates.

In addition the aforementioned application revisions, AppleFileServer, Classic Startup, Security Agent, SystemUIServer, and the Mac OS X Finder will see changes in Mac OS X 10.3.4.

A list of key enhancements expected in the final release of Mac OS X 10.3.4 include, improved file sharing and directory services for Mac, UNIX, PPTP, and wireless networks, improved OpenGL technology and updated ATI and NVIDIA graphics drivers, improved disc burning and recording functionality, iPods connections via USB 2.0 being properly recognized by iTunes and iSync, additional FireWire audio and USB device compatibility, updated Address Book, Mail, Safari, Stickies, and QuickTime applications, and improved compatibility for third party applications.

Apple last seeded developers with Mac OS X 10.3.4 build 7H46 on Friday, April 30th.