Apple Releases First Public Beta of macOS Mojave to Public Beta Testers

[ArthurCrown]

My concern too. I totally skipped High Sierra for that reason.

Is anyone test driving the beta with a non-SSD drive?

Yes. External LaCie drive. have found some problems restarting and on shutdown, but not sure if the cause is using an external drive.

 

[ApfelKuchen]

Why does macOS even have a name? iOS, tvOS and watchOS don't have one.

Find a good psychic and ask the ghost of Steve Jobs.

OS X/macOS has been named since OS X 10.0 Cheetah. So at this point, I'd say the answer is "tradition."

Purely speculating, I think the other Apple OSes do not have version naming in order to de-emphasize the differences between versions of that OS ("Snow Leopard is better than Yosemite"). For most people, numbers are less memorable than names.

I think Apple also wants the focus to be on Apple vs. competing OSes (iOS vs. Android) rather than competing versions of its own OS (iOS 11 vs. iOS 9) or specific versions of competing OSes (iOS 10 vs. Android Lolipop).

In the end, though, it comes down to marketing. Naming of OSes is quite common. It's even more common when you consider the internal code names used for products that are in development. Code-naming, in part, is part of the psychology of running a team - it helps unify the team members. The question then becomes, "Do we continue using the internal code name once the product goes public?"

In the end, of course, a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. However, "American Beauty" anchors in human consciousness a whole lot better than, "Hybrid 1234567890."

 

[555gallardo]

Nah, they'll just whine and moan on forums like this about how they installed a beta on a primary machine and bricked it, then expand to talk about how awful Apple is and why they will be switching to PC.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

I'm not whining and moaning. I have actually sent Apple three feedbacks today. I am encouraging others, who'll get to read my message, to do the same.

Also, by far, I have upgraded from the last macOS Sierra (totally skipped High Sierra and wanted to do the same with Mojave, but it simply looked too good to skip) and, despite being in the first Public Beta, I can tell you that it works exceptionally well on my MacBook Air 13" (Early 2014, 8GB RAM).

 

[AnthonyHarris]

I know that a few people are having issues, but for me the PB is pretty stable and Safari is much snappier!

I'm not whining and moaning. I have actually sent Apple three feedbacks today. I am encouraging others, who'll get to read my message, to do the same.

Also, by far, I have upgraded from the last macOS Sierra (totally skipped High Sierra and wanted to do the same with Mojave, but it simply looked too good to skip) and, despite being in the first Public Beta, I can tell you that it works exceptionally well on my MacBook Air 13" (Early 2014, 8GB RAM).

 

[Colonel Blimp]

Also, if you're ever trapped in a desert with a horse with no name, just name the damn horse.

Why does macOS even have a name? iOS, tvOS and watchOS don't have one.

Because if you had to sing that you'd "been through the desert with a macOS with no name," it wouldn't scan.

 

[GoodWheaties]

Now that I've finally been able to download Mojave, I've discovered that the Radeon 7950 is not a supported Metal graphics card.

This may or may not mean that none of the cheese grater Mac Pros will ever be supported.

Or maybe that support will come in the future? That's not usually Apple's way of doing things.

If you look at the supported machines list, I believe it says 2010 and 2012 Mac Pros with supported graphics cards. In other words, not with the original cards.

 

[deebinem]

Decided to test my luck after having rebuilt my machine to a fairly fresh copy of Sierra. First impressions of Mojave on a mid-2012 15" MBPR is that it seems to (so far) feel more refined than High Sierra was (ran like garbage on this machine).

I got some fan spin-ups while collecting diagnostic files for feedback and while a video on CNET played so I'm concerned that heat issues might plague this machine. Only time will tell.

Anyone know if they updated the drivers for the GT-650M in this version of macOS?

 

[Zdigital2015]

Now that I've finally been able to download Mojave, I've discovered that the Radeon 7950 is not a supported Metal graphics card.

This may or may not mean that none of the cheese grater Mac Pros will ever be supported.

Or maybe that support will come in the future? That's not usually Apple's way of doing things.

I would definitely file a bug through the Apple Feedback Assistant application and make them aware that currently the AMD 7950 is not currently shown as being Metal compatible under System Information. Is your card a Sapphire HD 7950 Mac Edition? If so, I would contact Sapphire to see if they can inquire with Apple as well. Currently, their graphics cards are the ones that Apple lists under eGPU recommended cards.

Also, on the Apple Beta Software Program website, when listing Macs compatible with Mojave, they list this -

• Mac Pro (Late 2013, plus mid 2010 and mid 2012 models with recommended Metal-capable GPU, including MSI Gaming Radeon RX 560 and Sapphire Radeon PULSE RX 580)

I find this quite curious that Apple lists the MSI Gaming Radeon RX560 for the Mac Pro, which is not a supported GPU (RX560) when you are using an eGPU under High Sierra 10.13.4 (formally supported), and that is even more weird as Apple uses the Radeon RX560 in some models of the 21.5" iMac.

If I were you, I would try to make as much noise as possible with Apple using Feedback Assistant and through forums like this about support. Apple has stated publicly and formally that it is supporting the 2010 and 2012 Mac Pros with macOS Mojave, but has been fairly coy about what constitutes a Metal-capable GPU.

Should Apple not end up supporting the AMD 7950 GPU, the MSI model they listed can be purchased for $149.99 USD on Amazon, which is a pretty economical upgrade. It's not ideal, by any means, but it would allow you to upgrade to the latest version of macOS and put off contemplating a new Mac or WindowsPC at least one more year. Good luck!

Final note, for everyone - Apple is doing a poor job of articulating/documenting/validating the GPUs that it is supporting with respect to the Mac Pro 2010/2012 and supporting in eGPU enclosures. It's illogical to me that Apple supports the RX570/RX580 AND the RX470/RX480, but yet won't support the RX550/RX560. During the keynote, Apple emphasized the value of eGPUs to professional workflows (ironically enough, with DaVinci Resolve, and not FinalCut Pro X). If you're running an eGPU under Mojave, it would be interesting to find out if Apple has included the RX550/RX560 as supported cards at this point. Letting them know via Feedback Assistant is the first, best option, but certainly not the only option.

 

[chucker23n1]

Find a good psychic and ask the ghost of Steve Jobs.

OS X/macOS has been named since OS X 10.0 Cheetah. So at this point, I'd say the answer is "tradition."

That's not entirely true. While 10.0's codename was Cheetah, the codename wasn't used as part of the public marketing name until 10.2 Jaguar.

Purely speculating, I think the other Apple OSes do not have version naming in order to de-emphasize the differences between versions of that OS ("Snow Leopard is better than Yosemite"). For most people, numbers are less memorable than names.

I think Apple also wants the focus to be on Apple vs. competing OSes (iOS vs. Android) rather than competing versions of its own OS (iOS 11 vs. iOS 9) or specific versions of competing OSes (iOS 10 vs. Android Lolipop).

I think it's just a similar weird discrepancy was:

briefly, macOS was called OS X (and before that, Mac OS X), while all other OSes already had the lowercaseOS convention
macOS still has the odd convention where version numbers start with 10.x, when clearly, several releases since 10.0 have been fairly major

My hope is they'll unify that stuff. I can see no good reason the entire batch of releases can't be called Mojave: call it the "Mojave release" of iOS, macOS, tvOS, watchOS.

 

[Zamana]

It's sad the main new feature of an operating system is dark mode.

I feel exactly the same when a new version of iOS/Android has as the main new feature... new emojis.

The world will end in emojis. That's the new normal.

 

[ApfelKuchen]

That's not entirely true. While 10.0's codename was Cheetah, the codename wasn't used as part of the public marketing name until 10.2 Jaguar.



I think it's just a similar weird discrepancy was:

briefly, macOS was called OS X (and before that, Mac OS X), while all other OSes already had the lowercaseOS convention
macOS still has the odd convention where version numbers start with 10.x, when clearly, several releases since 10.0 have been fairly major

My hope is they'll unify that stuff. I can see no good reason the entire batch of releases can't be called Mojave: call it the "Mojave release" of iOS, macOS, tvOS, watchOS.

I think we'll have the 10.x.x for Mac OS X/OS X/macOS for so long as it's resting on NeXT, BSD Unix, and Darwin. The switch from Classic Mac OS 9 to Mac OS X 10.1 was a complete change of code base. While there have been plenty of major changes since then (32 bit to 64 bit, for example), none have been as fundamental as the change from Classic Mac OS to OS X.

Sometimes unifying makes lots of sense, other times it may only serve the urge to have things neat and tidy.

Apple has unified the overall branding convention: macOS, iOS, tvOS, watchOS. Apple has successfully the Mac OS branding convention several times, from Mac OS X to OS X to macOS. They've also transitioned from the big cat code names to California location code names. However, version numbering, as a purely utilitarian function, is not the best thing to change mid-stream - just ask a librarian.

I do agree that the "Mojave release of iOS, macOS, tvOS, watchOS" makes good sense, since many of the annual changes are cross-platform (new iCloud features, Apple Pay, Apple Music, etc.). The current version numbering does nothing to communicate cross-platform feature compatibility (macOS 10.13.x, iOS 11.x, tvOS 11.x, and watchOS 4.x are all 2017 releases). Only iOS and tvOS are in step.

 

[aayp]

Unfortunately not.

Time to trade it.. I think it has served me well so far. However, I don't think the newer Macs have the same reliability anymore. I bought a MBP for my brother in 2013 and after multiple overheating issues and logic board changes it finally died a couple of weeks back.

 

[panther quest]

Thank you and thumbs up given. But the functionality I was hoping for was the way it used to be where I could click the path info at the top and it would turn into a single path I could cut and paste.

What you showed does show me where I am and takes away the blindfolded feeling, so I do appreciate it, but it's still less useful than it used to be.

This is back in Mojave with a right click.

 

[555gallardo]

Because if you had to sing that you'd "been through the desert with a macOS with no name," it wouldn't scan.

In the desert you can remember your name, tho' it's good to have iCloud Keychain in vein.