It looks like Apple may have helped some of their users join the coveted Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) club this week with the latest update to Mac OS X.

This update has caused a great number of problems for Mac users, something that isn’t typical of updates to the Apple OS.  For the few who read this notice prior to installing the update, there was a clue on the Apple support website in the article discussing the update which indicated that this update may cause problems:

You may experience unexpected results if you have third-party system software modifications installed, or if you have modified the operating system through other means, or if you have moved Apple applications from their default locations (the /Applications or /Applications/Utilities folders). (This does not apply to normal application software installation.)

This kind of warning isn’t typical and has led some to speculate that maybe this update wasn’t truly ready for prime time.

The rather hefty software update, much like a Windows service pack, weighs in at 190MB containing fixes for a number of known, and unknown, OS X issues.  The problem is with the problems that have arisen since the update became available.

The majority of sites are reporting problems with the update installation process itself citing extremely long load times and installations not completing, these are leading to people trying to reboot their machines part-way through the install process which is always a recipe for disaster.

Ars Technica is also reporting that there are a number of other hidden <ahem> “gems” in the 10.5.6 update not the least of which is some code to prevent the jailbreaking of 3G iPhones and iPod touches.  Nice, Apple. And thanks for leaving that little detail out on the list of features/additions etc.  Jerks.

Thanks to MacOS Ken, IT Wire, Ars Technica, and others.