Apple Seeds Seventh OS X 10.11.4 El Capitan Beta to Developers and Public Beta Testers

[MacRumors]

Apple today seeded the seventh beta of an upcoming OS X 10.11.4 update to developers for testing purposes, just over a week after seeding the sixth OS X 10.11.4 beta and more than a month after releasing OS X 10.11.3. OS X 10.11.4 has been in testing since January 11.

The seventh OS X 10.11.4 beta, build 15E64a, can be downloaded through the Apple Developer Center or via the Software Update Mechanism in the Mac App Store. The update is also available to members of Apple's public beta testing program.

OS X 10.11.4 offers a couple of new features, such as Live Photos support in Messages, the ability to password protect notes in the Notes app, and an option to import notes from Evernote, but like the recent OS X 10.11.3 update, it appears to focus primarily on under-the-hood bug fixes and performance improvements. Almost all of Apple's OS X updates to date have been smaller updates that improve performance rather than introduce new features.

We'll update this post with any features or significant changes that are discovered in the seventh beta of OS X 10.11.4. OS X 10.11.4 is likely to see a spring release alongside iOS 9.3, tvOS 9.2, and watchOS 2.2, with the new software coming as early as March 21, the date of Apple's planned spring event.

Article Link: Apple Seeds Seventh OS X 10.11.4 El Capitan Beta to Developers and Public Beta Testers

 

[Sirious]

Anyone else notice how Apple releases an update every time something leaks?

 

[Norbs12]

Damn, this is going to a be a highly polished release.

 

[garirry]

I know this horse has been beaten to death already, but please Apple, add the missing features back in Disk Utility!

 

[Paradoxally]

I know this horse has been beaten to death already, but please Apple, add the missing features back in Disk Utility!

Probably in 10.12, if we're lucky.

 

[Schranke]

It is also public

 

[pat500000]

If MR's information is true in regards to MP...I would be slightly be excited. How many betas does Apple to release just to release the official? Apple appears to lose confidence in themselves.

 

[4God]

Dang, that's more Betas than a college campus...lol

 

[jameslmoser]

Damn, this is going to a be a highly polished release.

One can hope... It better be. I have been a apple fan for a long time, but I'm really getting tired of their lack of quality control as of late. I can't use any of their devices for any period of time without having some problems or encountering some very annoying bugs. Its pretty embarrassing at times when I have advocated their products for years. I'm at the point again where I'm looking at alternatives, just like I was when they released Lion (*shudders thinking about it*)

 

[NT1440]

If MR's information is true in regards to MP...I would be slightly be excited. How many betas does Apple to release just to release the official? Apple appears to lose confidence in themselves.

Confidence doesn't fix bugs. Testing with as many people as possible does.

 

[nt5672]

Damn, this is going to a be a highly polished release.

Except for the few glaring bugs introduced just before the final release.

 

[navaira]

Give me that new iTunes I need, Apple.

Has anybody here noticed/reported any bugs in beta 6? I haven't found a single one.

 

[JetLaw]

I know this horse has been beaten to death already, but please Apple, add the missing features back in Disk Utility!

Agreed. The current version of Disk Utility is a mess. They made it prettier at the expense of functionality. That is a weird thing to do on a system utility in my opinion.

 

[JesperA]

It surprises me that we still have no swipe gesture in Finder, would be so nice to have swipe left and right for navigating forward and back in the folder hierarchy/history, the same way we do in webbrowers etc.

 

[kch50428]

Hope this fixes my issue with iTunes library files on a drive connected to my TimeCapsule causing iTunes to hang when trying to play those files...

 

[Peepo]

It surprises me that we still have no swipe gesture in Finder, would be so nice to have swipe left and right for navigating forward and back in the folder hierarchy/history, the same way we do in webbrowers etc.

Ya it used to be that way in a previous OSX (can't remember which version) but Apple took it out.

 

[mithion]

I don't really understand people who complain that apple is going through too many betas, but then also complain about lack of quality control. It is precisely for the reason of quality control that they are going through betas. If it takes a couple of extra builds to fix bugs, by all means do it!

It's for the same reasons I'm also again a fixed release schedule. Apple releases new versions of OSX like clockwork every fall, but I disagree with that philosophy. I'd rather them release their stuff when it's ready as opposed to "release every fall" because that's what people expect. Who's with me on this?

 

[ozone1]

Hope they give an option to show desktop previews in Mission Control again. Driving me crazy.

 

[Crzyrio]

I don't really understand people who complain that apple is going through too many betas, but then also complain about lack of quality control. It is precisely for the reason of quality control that they are going through betas. If it takes a couple of extra builds to fix bugs, by all means do it!

I completely agree with you on this

It's for the same reasons I'm also again a fixed release schedule. Apple releases new versions of OSX like clockwork every fall, but I disagree with that philosophy. I'd rather them release their stuff when it's ready as opposed to "release every fall" because that's what people expect. Who's with me on this?

The truth about software is, it will never be ready.

 

[Michaelgtrusa]

Should be out next week.

 

[Eithanius]

Give me that new iTunes I need, Apple.

Has anybody here noticed/reported any bugs in beta 6? I haven't found a single one.

Reported 2... One on iMessage, another on Safari...

And they still haven't fix a lot more from previous maintenance releases...

 

[joneill55]

So many bugs in "El Craptain"....let's hope they tackle all of the USB issues........PC audio is a joke with El Crap!

Highly polished......ha ha ha.....NOT!

 

[MrNomNoms]

I completely agree with you on this

The truth about software is, it will never be ready.

That maybe true but the bugs that are found should be rare corner case scenarios rather than wide spread glaringly obvious bugs that impact large numbers of the user base. Personally I'd sooner see Apple focus on getting the bugs fixed up, especially those that impact developers, than throwing 'cute' features on OS X that people appreciate but aren't exactly in high demand.

 

[IGI2]

I don't really understand people who complain that apple is going through too many betas, but then also complain about lack of quality control. It is precisely for the reason of quality control that they are going through betas. If it takes a couple of extra builds to fix bugs, by all means do it!

It's for the same reasons I'm also again a fixed release schedule. Apple releases new versions of OSX like clockwork every fall, but I disagree with that philosophy. I'd rather them release their stuff when it's ready as opposed to "release every fall" because that's what people expect. Who's with me on this?

I think the "new version every year" just keep them motivated and set them some target. Otherwise, if they were to work on their regular basis and release it only when all engineers are completely confident it's ready, we would see a major setback in development speed.

I agree, I prefer to have better polished and bug free OS than more functional one but the current situation is just a compromise between these two values.

 

[Ebenezum]

I know this horse has been beaten to death already, but please Apple, add the missing features back in Disk Utility!

I just hope Apple fixes the features Disk Utility currently has before they stop updating El Capitan.

Maybe well see the missing features in 10.12 but I'm not optimistic...

I don't really understand people who complain that apple is going through too many betas, but then also complain about lack of quality control. It is precisely for the reason of quality control that they are going through betas. If it takes a couple of extra builds to fix bugs, by all means do it!

It's for the same reasons I'm also again a fixed release schedule. Apple releases new versions of OSX like clockwork every fall, but I disagree with that philosophy. I'd rather them release their stuff when it's ready as opposed to "release every fall" because that's what people expect. Who's with me on this?

Agreed on both points.

Apples quality control has been amazingly bad in the last years, I don't care how many builds Apple has to release as long as they manage to fix the bugs in 10.11.3.

I don't understand why Apple doesn't admit that yearly releases won't work and start releasing new OS versions only when they are ready.

I know there is no such thing as bug free OS but the number of bugs is currently way too high when new OS is released.

So many bugs in "El Craptain"....let's hope they tackle all of the USB issues........PC audio is a joke with El Crap!

Highly polished......ha ha ha.....NOT!

I have been hoping USB would be finally fixed, there is no way I am going to use OS that won't work reliably with my external devices. In addition I'm hoping fixes to Spotlight, Finder, Mail and Time Machine because of way too many bugs...

I think the "new version every year" just keep them motivated and set them some target. Otherwise, if they were to work on their regular basis and release it only when all engineers are completely confident it's ready, we would see a major setback in development speed.

I am not certain fast development speed is beneficial to OS X, it is a mature OS. In my opinion slower speed would be beneficial. Alternatively I might accept fast speed if Apple simultaneously provides a "OS X Pro" version that is on slow speed and focuses on stability and speed instead on features.