Apple Giving Retail Employees Beta Access to OS X Mavericks

MacGuru100 said:

the REAL QUESTION is.......if youve got a recent MAC, is it gonna be FREE......


....or will i have to bend over for $20 on the upgrade.....



anyone know?

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No, as long as you don't see any mentions of Mav on your Mac purchase or the "Up-to-Date" program starts, you won't get a free update.

Apple usually give free updates to 1-2 months within the OS release. In this case, it's the Fall, so you're not likely to get any free updates.



I'd love a beta copy of this. Can't wait for the fall!!

I don't like the name, the logo, I am not blow away by this update yet I can hardly wait to install on the first day. I am hoping for a late August release but I bet it won't ship until September.

They spend a good part of their life in a low paying retail job, then go home to be Apples test mules? That's an abuse of power

glsillygili said:

thats awesome!

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No, revolutionary magic.

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leon44 said:

In the face of all the developers who whine about how people shouldn't be allowed access to betas. Beta testing needs real world users, if Apple wanted to crack down on non-devs getting hold of betas they would, but it's actually an advantage to have more testers.

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If users talk about prerelease software on public forums, it changes nothing.

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agenda893 said:

View attachment 418379

I'll be waiting for 10.10 Iceman.

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The PRISM/Scientology OS (see picture)?

Sounds like a good idea...

Four oF NINE said:

How close are we to a newer version of beta? I've noted a few glitches, minor stuff really, primarily with third party applications

Mavericks is very smooth for an initial beta.

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I am running it on a USB 3.0 external/portable drive on my (up until last week) most recent version MacBook Air. I am truly amazed at how smooth it runs.

Any improvement to uninstalling apps?

I know this is a little off-topic, but for the life of me I can't understand why it is so difficult to remove non-appstore applications on my Mac (Lion) when it is otherwise such a wonderful OS. I hope Mavericks improves this...a lot. I don't understand why I have to purchase AppDelete (nice app, BTW!) in order to remove anything (dragging to the trashcan from the App. Folder, and especially Launchpad, is an exercise in futility).

I hate Windows, and it took them decades to figure out how to handle dependencies and versioning, but at least adding and removing programs there is a no-brainer now! I am hoping this gets fixed; or, it's because I am a version behind everyone else.

The early rumor that Mavericks may be close to done is an absolute falsehood. I can tell you that its very far from primetime ready. Based on my own use since WWDC, I am quite surprised that they are releasing it to employees this early.

I haven't run into any major show stoppers, but I have run into a TON of bugs and problems that are severely annoying. Don't confuse this explanation with any complaints whatsoever though. I enjoy testing beta software and helping Apple with bug reports. Its too early for me to give my own eta on Mavericks until we get a couple more releases in to get a gauge of the pace etc. Im pretty antsy for the next releases of both Mavericks and iOS7 to see some more polish. Super want on iOS7 for iPad.

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Someyoungguy said:

I know this is a little off-topic, but for the life of me I can't understand why it is so difficult to remove non-appstore applications on my Mac (Lion) when it is otherwise such a wonderful OS. I hope Mavericks improves this...a lot. I don't understand why I have to purchase AppDelete (nice app, BTW!) in order to remove anything (dragging to the trashcan from the App. Folder, and especially Launchpad, is an exercise in futility).

I hate Windows, and it took them decades to figure out how to handle dependencies and versioning, but at least adding and removing programs there is a no-brainer now! I am hoping this gets fixed; or, it's because I am a version behind everyone else.

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Removing apps is as simple as throwing them in the trash. When you run a new app in OSX for the first time it creates a few tiny files to store preferences. If you want to go through the trouble of deleting a few tiny and insignificant config files you can, but its completely unnecessary and has no affect on the system if you leave them. Unlike Windows, there is no registry. Furthermore, when you uninstall apps in windows, it does NOT ever remove them completely. Those apps often still leave behind directories and ALWAY leave behind most of their registry entries and dlls

From what i know, office and adobe both are not functioning correctly in this beta. that is why i have no updated. is it unreasonable to think that apple store employees also use these functions? Or has Microsoft and adobe fixed these issues yet?

leon44 said:

In the face of all the developers who whine about how people shouldn't be allowed access to betas. Beta testing needs real world users.

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Agreed, but I think the main motivation for Apple to do this is knowing that many of their employees will have now have actual "hands on" experience with OS X 10.9, when it launches.

Before the betas, they'd just put these snazzy looking online training pages (which were essentially just bulleted talking points) and expect the employees to learn that info before the launch. :/

aristobrat said:

Agreed, but I think the main motivation for Apple to do this is knowing that many of their employees will have now have actual "hands on" experience with OS X 10.9, when it launches.

Before the betas, they'd just put these snazzy looking online training pages (which were essentially just bulleted talking points) and expect the employees to learn that info before the launch. :/

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Im all about giving employees access, I just think its too early at the moment. While Mavericks is ultra stable, it is chalk full of hugely irritating bugs. Developers and seasoned beta testers fully understand and accept this, but your average run of the mill employees do not.

I'm sure that it will have its many benefits, but I really dislike the name. Surely they could have come up with something better. I wonder when Siri will be included as a part of OS X, or if it ever will? Eventually, OS X and iOS will be fully merged…and perhaps that will be called OS XI. It would be nice to have access to some of the better iOS apps on my laptop.

MacGuru100 said:

the REAL QUESTION is.......if youve got a recent MAC, is it gonna be FREE......

....or will i have to bend over for $20 on the upgrade.....

anyone know?

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I'm surprised that you've bought a $1K+ computer and would complain about a minor fee for a large upgrade. It seemed to me that by pricing their computers so high Apple generally manages to shake off the complainers. (It's nice pricing yourself outside of their grasp - you don't have to deal with them and the higher margins make up for the lower sales volume. I avoid selling at free and $1 just so I don't have to deal with those kinds of people.)

Question: Are the employees joining the beta program covered by NDA like the developers in the beta program?

I gave Mavericks a run down and I was bored. OS X has been severely neglected the past several years. There hasn't been anything revolutionary since Leopard and for the first time ever, I don't see any incentive or going through the trouble in upgrading my iMac.

MacGuru100 said:

the REAL QUESTION is.......if youve got a recent MAC, is it gonna be FREE......


....or will i have to bend over for $20 on the upgrade.....



anyone know?

Click to expand...

Lol, somehow I think it's going to be worth the $20.

MacGuru100 said:

the REAL QUESTION is.......if youve got a recent MAC, is it gonna be FREE......


....or will i have to bend over for $20 on the upgrade.....



anyone know?

Click to expand...

That will depend greatly on your definition of "Recent."

For Mountain Lion, it was released July 25th, 2012. There were free upgrades for people buying from Apple or an authorized reseller on or after June 11th.

So my guess is:

If you bought before Developer Days, definitely not
If you bought after DD, maybe.

Someyoungguy said:

I know this is a little off-topic, but for the life of me I can't understand why it is so difficult to remove non-appstore applications on my Mac (Lion) when it is otherwise such a wonderful OS. I hope Mavericks improves this...a lot. I don't understand why I have to purchase AppDelete (nice app, BTW!) in order to remove anything (dragging to the trashcan from the App. Folder, and especially Launchpad, is an exercise in futility)...

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Are you telling us that you drag an app to the trash, empty the trash and the apps is still not deleted? Maybe there is still some files around but what is your actually problem?

agenda893 said:

View attachment 418379

I'll be waiting for 10.10 Iceman.

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S

It makes all the difference.

OX, OS X
Maverick, Mavericks
iPhone 4, iPhone 4S

See my point?

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bdkennedy1 said:

I gave Mavericks a run down and I was bored. OS X has been severely neglected the past several years. There hasn't been anything revolutionary since Leopard and for the first time ever, I don't see any incentive or going through the trouble in upgrading my iMac.

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Quite possibly $20 for a ton of new and good features. It really is your loss if you don't upgrade on all supported Macs you own. The only reason not to is if you have a critical App that does not support 10.9 then as soon as it's supported you update.

leon44 said:

In the face of all the developers who whine about how people shouldn't be allowed access to betas. Beta testing needs real world users, if Apple wanted to crack down on non-devs getting hold of betas they would, but it's actually an advantage to have more testers.

Click to expand...

Beta-testing needs people who have a reasonable amount of knowledge and experience, and who are able to ... TEST! and identify the difference between "a bug" and "a problem I have on my computer right now", so that Apple's Dev team can get useful, analytical feedback, rather than just noise.

Read the posts from people running Mavericks who are asking questions like "is it ok to delete /usr ??".

Otherwise, you might as well release it to the public unfinished, and then sort out the problems in updates. Oh, wait.... ;-)

I'd like to see real world numbers on the battery savings and speed ups for the latest MBA. They are promoting 12 hour battery life, but what about after upgrading to Mavericks?

djra8 said:

Worst os name ever.... I am disappointed OSX Sea lion never made it to the shelves

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I suppose. But with all these complaints about the name and how they should have stuck with yet another Lion or big-cat name, I find the new name to be very self-referential...It's also not difficult to associate it with Apple's Think Different slogan.

9to5Mac is also reporting that Apple is expanding iOS 7 testing beyond developers.

Notably, on the iOS 7 end, multiple sources say that Apple is working to expand testing of the next-generation iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch operating system beyond developers. Sources say that Apple is holding on campus sessions with Cupertino locals to gauge feedback on the radical design and interface changes in iOS. Apple has conducted similar programs in the past for specific, major software features, but rarely holds such previews for whole major operating system releases. It is unclear how these people have been picked, but it is probable that they are family members of Apple employees, according to two people.

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ArtOfWarfare said:

Question: Are the employees joining the beta program covered by NDA like the developers in the beta program?

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Yes. Retail employees sign a general NDA as part of the hiring process. It basically covers everything they come in contact with that's not official public knowledge.