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As noted by Cult of Mac, Apple has removed references to the Messages for Mac beta that the company released for OS X Lion in mid-February to provide a preview of the functionality coming in OS X Mountain Lion.
There’s still a Messages for Mac link at the bottom of Apple’s Downloads page — as you can see below — but again, it just redirects to the Mac OS X page, where a Messages beta cannot be found.
It’s likely that Apple is now happy with how beta testing has gone, and that it has already prepared a final release that will launch alongside Mountain Lion in July.
Apple has not removed the download entirely, however, as it is still accessible via direct download (63.8 MB). It is unknown how long Apple will continue hosting the download, but text strings found within the app earlier this year suggest that the app itself will expire once OS X Mountain Lion is released and Messages will be a Mountain Lion exclusive.
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Apple announced yesterday that OS X Mountain Lion will launch in July and be priced at $19.99 through the Mac App Store. Users of Snow Leopard and Lion will be able to upgrade to Mountain Lion for the same price.
Users of the Messages beta for Lion have complained of a number of issues including crashes and problems with syncing across devices, failure to send, and disappearing messages. Many have been hoping for an update to address some of these issues, but it appears that Apple is focusing its Messages efforts on the final version it plans to include with OS X Mountain Lion.
Top Rated Comments
(View all)After using Messages Beta for a week, I ended up uninstalling it. Kept getting a red badge "1" on the dock icon that wouldn't go away.
This happens for everyone. But I like it too much to justify uninstalling it. I agree, however, the badge is annoying.
I'm looking forward to the day when Apple (just to rub it into Microsofts face) decides to sell their next MacOS for 99 cent.
You obviously don't understand the difference between making money on hardware or software.
For your clarification:
Apple only allows their OS to run on Apple made hardware. Therefore they are making tons of money on the hardware side. Technically, they could give the OS away for free and still make enough money.
MS is only selling software which means that they have to make all their money by selling software... So, there is no option for them to sell their OS for a low price... On the plus side they typically don't force their users to upgrade to a new OS by claiming that new add-on applications can only run on the new OS even though it has been beta-tested on the current OS...
I bet they charge .99 for it and put it on the MAS, like facetime.
it would be worth every one of those pennies for use with macs not making the cut for mLion but still good machines
Stinks that the Beta will be inoperative eventually, because my girlfriend's Mac Mini won't be able to update to Mountain Lion and she's getting alot of use out of Messages.
I bet they charge .99 for it and put it on the MAS, like facetime.
GET YOUR MAC MERCHANDISE HERE!!
Guess where I think you should stick your MERCHANDISE!!!:apple: Buy Apple "I'm a mac" T-Shirts here :apple:
:apple:
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I've encountered some weird quirks too. Overall, I like it a lot. I've been using it as a replacement for Yahoo! since the day it was released in Beta.
I liked the concept... it is terrible at staying synced.The only feature that I really miss is the ellipses when someone is in the middle of typing. I wish that worked with Yahoo!.