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Apple Expands Testing of OS X Mountain Lion to Select Retail Store Staff

Friday June 22, 2012 6:49 am PDT by Eric Slivka
With OS X Mountain Lion set to launch to the public sometime next month, 9to5Mac reports that Apple has asked select members of its retail store staff to begin testing the software.
In an e-mail to Apple Store Genius Bar members and Creatives, Apple has provided access to its OS X Mountain Lion AppleSeed testing program…

This testing is to be done on personal Macs belonging to employees, and is not standardized in-store OS X Mountain Lion training.
Not only will the program provide additional testers for Apple as it expands beyond registered Mac developers, but it will also give retail store staff a head start on gaining familiarity with the forthcoming operating system before formal training begins.


Apple is almost certainly wrapping up work on OS X Mountain Lion, if it hasn't completed it already, with the company issuing a "near-final" build to developers at its Worldwide Developers Conference earlier this month. With OS X Mountain Lion being a Mac App Store exclusive, Apple can continue to work on the operating system until relatively close to the launch date given that it does not need to build in time for pressing millions of DVDs, but the company will want some time to ensure that the golden master build is behaving properly before it is released to the public.

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rafaltrus
95 months ago

So regular employees now serve as beta testers as well?


Developers focus on debugging, noticing performance issues and their causes, etc.
"Regular" users, such as Apple Store employees, will look at the Mac OS X and report daily-usage bugs and inconveniences.

I think it's pretty cool.
Rating: 13 Votes
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mogzieee
95 months ago
I really hope there is one Apple employee out there who can feedback the dual screening issue with fullscreen apps that is currently such a bane in Lion. I seriously hope there's a fix to this in Mountain Lion! Pleeeeease?
Rating: 11 Votes
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ckelley
95 months ago

I am running developer preview 4 with the latest update that came out earlier this week. What is the issue you are having so I can see if it still exists?

I think his issue is this: Let's say you have multiple monitors, say a 27" display and a 17" MacBook Display... you're doing work on the 27" but want to use the full-screen feature of an app on the 17" display. You click the icon in the upper-right to make it full screen and it turns your 27" display into a huge screen of linen!

If you could full-screen apps on one display and still allow you to have access to working on the other display, that would be tremendous, but as of now (Lion), you can't.
Rating: 10 Votes
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ghostface147
95 months ago

I really hope there is one Apple employee out there who can feedback the dual screening issue with fullscreen apps that is currently such a bane in Lion. I seriously hope there's a fix to this in Mountain Lion! Pleeeeease?


I am running developer preview 4 with the latest update that came out earlier this week. What is the issue you are having so I can see if it still exists?
Rating: 9 Votes
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RoelJuun
95 months ago

What a great perk!


You can buy that perk for $100. Just sign up for the developer program.
Rating: 7 Votes
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newagemac
95 months ago



With OS X Mountain Lion being a Mac App Store exclusive, Apple can continue to work on the operating system until relatively close to the launch date given that it does not need to build in time for pressing millions of DVDs


The ability to fix last minute bugs and shorter lead times. Another nice benefit of digital delivery systems like the Mac App Store. :)
Rating: 7 Votes
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iBug2
95 months ago

I can't wait for this to be released. One thing I am UBER excited about is being able to AirPlay Mirror my iMac onto my bedroom TV. :D:D:D


Wait till you see how "snappy" Safari is. (And no, this time it's no sarcasm, the new scrolling in Safari using core animation is insanely fluid.)
Rating: 6 Votes
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Mattie Num Nums
95 months ago
It's about Fing time. I hated it when I was working the Genius bar when a new OS came out because none of us knew anything about it or saw it.
Rating: 5 Votes
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cammonro
95 months ago
Full screen apps

All this endless debate about how full screen apps should and should not behave - what's wrong with just giving users a simple system preferences setting that allows them to decide how they want it to work?

Personally I think it's silly to have a $1000 display blanked out with linen fabric. The way Parallels uses dual monitors in full screen mode is great though. In fact Parallels is the only app I can think of that lets you even utilize your secondary display properly.
Rating: 5 Votes
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Spanky Deluxe
95 months ago

Hey guys, is ML x64 only yet? what's going on with that?


Yes it is. There is no longer a 32-bit kernel and most of the kexts ('drivers') are 64 bit only now. Older macs with 64-bit CPUs but 32-bit EFIs ('bios') could still work with a bit of hacking around. E.g. earlier Core 2 Duo machines and 2006/2007 Mac Pros. Older 32-bit machines might still be frankensteined into working since the first developer version did have a 32 bit kernel.

It's a shame as Mountain Lion is much nicer than Lion. The ability to semi-fix Exposé is a worthy enough reason to upgrade - reinstating a Snow Leopard like feel.
Rating: 5 Votes

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