Apple Allowing Non-Developers to Apply for OS X Beta Program

[runeapple]

It took years for it to happen but Apple has realized that Microsoft's beta model is worthwhile: use a much larger base to aid in testing beta OS releases.

Just keepin' it real....

I think it's more - OSX is now free now so doing this can no longer harm profit.

Secondly I wouldn't say Microsoft's model is worthwhile - Windows 8 was the biggest POS ever - 8.1 is a little better but Windows 7 is still way better.

 

[Michael Goff]

I think it's more - OSX is now free now so doing this can no longer harm profit.

Secondly I wouldn't say Microsoft's model is worthwhile - Windows 8 was the biggest POS ever - 8.1 is a little better but Windows 7 is still way better.

EVER!

I take it you haven't used many products.

 

[xPad]

Any confidentiality type of things aside, discussing the issues in a forum for a "rumors" site doesn't really present a wrong way of going about it if you just want to talk about it with others who want to talk to you about it.

Confidentiality aside (and this program does have an NDA, btw), it's still unhelpful to discuss it publicly, because people don't seem to understand how to discuss pre-release software. All you end up getting is a bunch of morons who think beta software is supposed to be bug-free.

Informing the public of beta bugs is counter-productive. Informing Apple actually helps get rid of the bugs.

 

[mediotanque]

Keep talking and the men in black coats will be at your door shortly.

I don't get it

 

[xPad]

But so far there is no such forum for public beta testers - unlike the full appleseed and developer programs where there are such forums.



So should apple make a forum for public beta testers?

Yes, they should. But even if there isn't, the NDA prohibits public discussion. And even if that wasn't in place, it simply does not help. All it does is confuse people.

"Lol, AirDrop doesn't work". Yeah, Einstein, read the release notes. That's why it's in beta. Or even ignoring bugs, there are features that change, are added, and are removed. People will read this info and think that something is crap because it's incomplete in the beta, or they will think something is in the released version when it was just being tried out in a beta.

 

[macduke]

Aww crap. Now that normal users can install the beta, these forums are going to be completely overflowing with people complaining. And if they did this for iOS it would be total anarchy!

Hopefully some good can come from this. It seems like every version since Snow Leopard has been pretty glitchy. Mavericks was an improvement, except for mail. My grandpa regrets upgrading his 2008 MBP to Mavericks. I did a clean install for him the other day so I hope that helps. He upgraded straight from 10.6, which was probably a little sketchy—especially for an older machine. I'm pretty stoked for Syrah. I mainly want two things: Refreshed interface and stability improvements. Not iOS 7 refreshed either—perhaps a more moderate or refined approach. Reduce a few of the remaining annoyances of OS X, cut back on clutter—bring a little more clarity to the design.

So Mac OS X has been around for a about 13 years now in desktop form. At what point do you start over from scratch again and rebuild everything from the ground up to use newer methodologies? Or is it really so robust that it can be continually upgraded? Just wondering if something like OS 9 to OS X could happen again with OS 11. Make everything super efficient, make the whole UI based on vector graphics, etc. Include an emulator or some other way for legacy apps to run. Build the new iOS and Mac OS codebase side by side so both devices can benefit from optimizations that would increase performance and battery life. iOS is a modified version of Mac OS X. I wonder how much more advanced it could be if it was designed from the ground up for mobile optimization. This is probably a poor analogy, but I've recently switched from doing desktop-first to mobile-first in my responsive web designs and it has made a world of difference. Just a thought!

 

[C DM]

Confidentiality aside (and this program does have an NDA, btw), it's still unhelpful to discuss it publicly, because people don't seem to understand how to discuss pre-release software. All you end up getting is a bunch of morons who think beta software is supposed to be bug-free.

Informing the public of beta bugs is counter-productive. Informing Apple actually helps get rid of the bugs.

I think that's an overgeneralization really. But even if that's sort of the case, those who know what they are talking about can still get some value in discussing it ignoring anything that would actually fall into the "it's a beta" type of category.

 

[godrifle]

Wasn't this program formerly known as Mavericks? </snark>

 

[tevion5]

Ha! As if we haven't all been beta testers already with iOS 7.0 and OSX 10.9.0.......

Anymore and they'll have to start paying us.

(iOS 7.1 is okay now though, and OSX 10.9.2 is great)

 

[KdParker]

I hope Apple Support has been beefed up.

No joke.

 

[xmichaelp]

This is awesome. But I just did a fresh install yesterday and don't want to start adding more partitions. I'll definitely do it when 10.10 beta is out though.

 

[unplugme71]

This is great news! Apple has been criticized for releasing software that's buggy. Remember how bad Lion was? And first major releases of iOS.

By having more people participate and provide feedback, lots of bugs can be hammered out. This release for Mavericks is a way for Apple to determine the success of this program. I'm sure it'll be launched with OS X 10.10

I'd say, let's all participate and provide lots of feedback. I have a spare Mac to put this on so it won't disrupt my workflow.

 

[tywebb13]

Yes, they should.

Section 10 of the new OSXBSCA suggests that apple might make a forum for public beta testers at some later stage, despite there not being one available yet:

10. Discussion Forums. As part of the Seeding Program, you may have the ability to participate in discussion forums provided by Apple about the Pre-Release Software and other Confidential Information that Apple may make available to you. For purposes of such discussion forums, Apple is providing a limited exception to Section 6 by allowing you to discuss certain Apple Confidential Information received by you in connection with a particular seed with other seed participants who are in the same seed as you in the Apple designated discussion forum for such seed, and only within this discussion forum. Except for the limited purpose of discussions with other seed participants within such forums, you acknowledge and agree that this Agreement does not grant you the right to copy, reproduce, publish, blog, disclose, transmit, or otherwise disseminate any Apple Confidential Information.

(from https://appleseed.apple.com/agreements/EA1133_OSXBSCA.pdf )

 

[groovyd]

installed and so far the only problem i see is it disabled my SpamSieve mail plug-in saying it is incompatible... lots of spam coming in

is it that skype does not remember it was opened on my second monitor instead of my first or is that mavericks problem? it always re-locates itself when i relaunch osx. i have selected the 'assign to desktop on display 2' option checked but it unchecks every time.

 

[lemonade-maker]

Can I get my 99 bucks back???

 

[Gamer9430]

Issues with trying this...

I tried to do this, but after I installed the Beta Access Utility, my App Store is giving me a error saying "The certificate for this server is invalid. You might be connecting to a server that is pretending to be “swscan.apple.com” which could put your confidential information at risk.". Does anyone know why this is happening and how to fix it?

 

[MikhailT]

I think it's more - OSX is now free now so doing this can no longer harm profit.

Secondly I wouldn't say Microsoft's model is worthwhile - Windows 8 was the biggest POS ever - 8.1 is a little better but Windows 7 is still way better.

The whole open beta program started with Windows 7, not Windows 8. IMO, the main reason Windows 7 was a huge success was because there was an extended long term open beta program. I was there from the beginning, the first beta was absolutely nothing alike the final release.

Windows 8 was just Microsoft's stubbornness, not because of the beta. They wanted to push Metro regardless of what people or the beta team said. This is where I fear Apple would do the same, they'll push the update out regardless of how the beta team feels.

Also, the desktop mode of Windows 8 is much better than Windows 7, it's lighter, quicker, and more responsive.

 

[Gamer9430]

Also, the desktop mode of Windows 8 is much better than Windows 7, it's lighter, quicker, and more responsive.

I completely disagree... I know that Windows 8 will soon have the start menu back, but previous to that, I found it horrible. On the original Windows 8, not 8.1, the desktop was a dead end. There was nothing past it. It was also very hard to add apps to the menu bar or desktop. I will admit, however, that Windows 8.1 has improved the desktop and future updates will (hopefully) make it better. I'm not trying to be a windows hater, but even windows fanboys hated it.

 

[tywebb13]

I think this effectively makes OS X 10.9.3 build 13D45a the first public beta of apple system software since the international version of Mac OS X Kodiak Public Beta build 2E14 released in 2000.

Correct me if I am wrong, but I don't think there have been any public betas since build 2E14.

 

[Dj64Mk7]

Does a user HAVE to be eighteen to be in the program? The NDA attached to this program says so, but the legal age to create an Apple ID is thirteen.

Also, if I do join the program, should I submit feedback through Feedback Assistant, Radar (dev.apple), or both? Speaking of which, I haven't gotten any feedback whatsoever on a report I submitted almost six months ago. What's up with that?

 

[xPad]

I think that's an overgeneralization really. But even if that's sort of the case, those who know what they are talking about can still get some value in discussing it ignoring anything that would actually fall into the "it's a beta" type of category.

It's not a generalization. The point isn't that everyone does this (they clearly don't). But that just a few people doing it causes problems.

The rest ("those who know what they are talking about") have forums they can go to to discuss things without confusing people unnecessarily. If Apple doesn't have forums for this updated AppleSeed program, then that's a problem, but not one that's solved by having people discuss a beta program in general forums.

 

[tywebb13]

Does a user HAVE to be eighteen to be in the program? The NDA attached to this program says so, but the legal age to create an Apple ID is thirteen.

Also, if I do join the program, should I submit feedback through Feedback Assistant, Radar (dev.apple), or both? Speaking of which, I haven't gotten any feedback whatsoever on a report I submitted almost six months ago. What's up with that?

This public beta program says to use feedback assistant.

 

[Amazing Iceman]

Great news, but I don't have a spare Mac nor time to play with beta stuff anymore. I may be getting old or something... I hope it's just 'something'.

Oh heck! I may give it a try one of these days when I have nothing to do.

 

[linuxcooldude]

This public beta program says to use feedback assistant.

Installed the beta but cant seem to find Feedback assistant anywhere.

 

[RMo]

Can I get my 99 bucks back???

Surely you paid for the benefits of a Developer account and not just the prerelease software...