Earlier in the week, it was rumored that Apple was prepping to release a new Mac OS X build to the public. Apple on Thursday followed through and released Mac OS X 10.6.8 which helped patch a number of issues and minor improvements in the OS.

This is expected to be the last build released for Snow Leopard before the public release of Mac OS X Lion; Apple’s next major update for the Mac. The last update was released in late March and since then has stayed relatively the same. The release notes mention that the new build enhances Mac App Store so that your Mac is ready for OS X Lion.

The 10.6.8 update is recommended for all users running Mac OS X Snow Leopard and includes general operating system fixes that enhance the stability, compatibility, and security of your Mac, including fixes that:

– Enhance the Mac App Store to get your Mac ready to upgrade to Mac OS X Lion
– Resolve an issue that may cause Preview to unexpectedly quit
– Improve support for IPv6
– Improve VPN reliability
– Identify and remove known variants of Mac Defender

For detailed information on this update, please visit this website:http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4561.
For information on the security content of this update, please visit:http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222.

Mac App Store will be the only way to upgrade to Lion as Apple has decided to discontinue software DVD’s. This would enable people to get the update easily, however they would need to be prepared for 4GB of download.

The public release, issued for Snow Leopard, was the same build, Build 10K540, released to developers earlier this month. Apple has yet to announce a specific date for the release of Max OS X Lion, which is pegged for a release in July.

{via MacRumors}

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