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OS X Yosemite Public Beta Launches Tomorrow, July 24

Wednesday July 23, 2014 7:24 am PDT by Eric Slivka
In a coordinated release today, a number of publications have released official overviews of the latest OS X Yosemite beta build alongside word of Apple's plans to open up the public beta tomorrow, July 24. As noted by The Loop, the public beta of Yosemite will be the same build released to developers on Monday.
The public beta version of OS X Yosemite is the same version released to developers on Monday, so to start off, consumers and developers will be running the same software. However, the developer version of Yosemite will be updated more often over the next few months than the public beta version. This is so developers can continue to test their software with the latest operating system available. Consumers really don’t need updates that frequently.
yosemite_public_beta_machines
As far as the overviews designed to bring members of the public beta up to speed as the program launches, the general feeling is positive. Some note, however, that many of Yosemite's best features involve integration with iOS 8 and will be inaccessible during the public beta as the program covers only OS X. Here are a few snippets:

- Dana Wollman, Engadget
For anyone who thought OS X was getting stale, that it was evolving a little too gradually, you'll definitely want to check out Yosemite: It ushers in a new, iOS-inspired design, along with some new, iOS-like features. In my week of testing, I've found the updated look to be more visually pleasing than the previous version, yet still easy to navigate. The new features are generally welcome too, though some admittedly feel more granular than others.
- Darrell Etherington, TechCrunch
We’ve had some time with the pre-release build ahead of today’s launch, and our time spent with the next version of Apple’s desktop OS has proven one thing: Yosemite offers a host of great new features for users new to Mac and experienced Apple fans alike. Even the pre-launch build feels like a solid step-up from Mavericks, which bodes well for the finished result that should launch once Apple irons out the bugs and incorporates user feedback from its beta test program.
- Lauren Goode, Re/code
I like its new design, the small improvements in Safari and Messages, and what appear to be promising fixes in Mail. It has already made a better impression on me than Mavericks did right out of the gate. But it’s also still very much a work in progress.
The official launch of OS X Yosemite to the general public will come later this year, likely in the October timeframe. The public beta program is limited to the first one million users to sign up on Apple's site.

[ 195 comments ]


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Chupa Chupa
60 months ago

Great, I know a lot of people have been anxious for this


Says in the main body of the report here (from The Loop) that it will be the same build initially but that it won't include all future updates that devs and AppleSeed testers get.

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For the beta nubies: if you plan on d/ling tomorrow do not install over the OS of your current stable OS. Either install on a separate drive or partition. I know this sounds obvious but people install betas all the time over stable versions and live to regret it. Also be aware you cannot roll back to 10.9.x once you install 10.10 so if you do install it over 10.9 there is no easy way to go back which is why you should install on a separate drive or partition.

10.10 DP4 is stable for a beta. It's still a beta though.
Rating: 15 Votes
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bushido
60 months ago
That seems like a very bad idea. I mean iOS8 won't be a public beta so two separate iClouds will confuse and anger many people

Finally! Signed up for it awhile ago, can't wait. Definitely going to use Dark-Mode 24/7.


i doubt that, the implementation is pretty much useless and half the icons in the taskbar will be impossible to read cuz they havent been updated by the devs to support dark mode

Rating: 9 Votes
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Mad Mac Maniac
60 months ago


Has anyone heard anything about Mojave 10.11?


Yeah, I heard it has Siri, a refreshed iTunes app, and teleportation.
Rating: 9 Votes
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D.T.
60 months ago

For the beta nubies: if you plan on d/ling tomorrow do not install over the OS of your current stable OS. Either install on a separate drive or partition. I know this sounds obvious but people install betas all the time over stable versions and live to regret it. Also be aware you cannot roll back to 10.9.x once you install 10.10 so if you do install it over 10.9 there is no easy way to go back which is why you should install on a separate drive or partition.

10.10 DP4 is stable for a beta. It's still a beta though.



This post needs to be stickied to the top of this thread in 72 point red text. :cool:
Rating: 8 Votes
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T'hain Esh Kelch
60 months ago

Will it be safe to use in your main pc? Isn't it gonna be too buggy and cause problems?

If it was stable and without bugs it would have been released already. BETA means BETA, not that hard really.
Rating: 7 Votes
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Icaras
60 months ago
Boy, are there a lot of drama queens in this thread.

I'll be installing the beta tomorrow on top of Mavericks tomorrow as my main OS.
Rating: 7 Votes
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abshole765
60 months ago

You should NEVER EVER use a beta version of an operating system on your main computer/partition. PERIOD. END OF DISCUSSION.

Why? Just because a lot of functions are stable, doesn't mean every one of them is stable, and just because the apps that some use with it are stable in the current beta, doesn't mean that all of them are. Apple and the third party developers usually update their apps following the general release of new versions of OS X for a reason.



Never gonna happen. Highly possible that they'll implement a public beta for iOS 9 depending on how well this program works; but odds are extremely good that it isn't gonna happen this time around.



Install the beta on a different partition, drive, or machine; use ARD when needed on your stable partition, drive, or machine and switch when you want to play around with the new OS.



First off, Beta 3 was not ready for public release. Secondly, Beta 4 currently isn't ready for public release. Just because you haven't run into trouble with the things you do or the programs you use doesn't mean that said trouble doesn't exist. I'm sure there's ton of work left to go under the hood. Above the hood even there are still a ton of apps that are in need of an iconography makeover (i.e. that still look like they did in Mavericks and earlier)

Lastly, I'm rocking iOS 8 beta 4 on one of my iPod touches. Aside from it feeling markedly slower than iOS 7.1.2 on the same hardware, it's felt about as stable. Then again, given the above, I admit that I haven't mucked around with every element of iOS 8, though, to be fair, it's a much simpler OS from the user interface perspective than Yosemite is.



Dude, you are not helping anyone here. Even if Yosemite in DP4/Public Beta form does nothing to harm users, you're going to have people follow that advice, run into trouble and then incorrectly assert that Yosemite is a bunk/buggy OS. It happens all the time.

Anyone running ANY beta of ANY OS should be advised to do so on a secondary partition, drive, or machine. Time Machining a machine that impotant data before doing an upgrade install to a Yosemite beta is an obvious must.



First off, do you have any cited prove that it is? Would love to see it.

Secondly, Swift code is able to run on Mavericks and newer as well as iOS 7 and newer. I'd imagine that, if anything, Mavericks and iOS 7 were the ones that were reprogrammed to use Swift (and would likely be inclusive in the really large amounts of under-the-hood work done in both OSes).



You can code in Swift for no earlier than 10.9 Mavericks or iOS 7. Mountain Lion and iOS 6 are left out of the Swift-coded app party.



For messing around, they're fine. Don't use it as your primary boot environment. Put it on a different partition, drive, or machine. At this point, expect things to mostly work, but be really be prepared for many things to not.



My guess is that you won't be able to. Again, installing it on a secondary partition, drive, or machine makes it so that reformating and re-installing the general release isn't a hassle; you can just upgrade your main machine and reformat and clean install the new OS on the secondary.



Nope, they did it with 10.0 as well. But yes, this is the first time that they have done this since then (14 years ago). Many consider 10.0 to be the public beta for 10.1 (which should've been the 10.0 release).



Solution: Don't put it on a production machine. Put it on a secondary.

also, can I upgrade my current Mavericks install to Yosemite with this Beta, or do I need to do a brand new install?

Given that you could upgrade a Mavericks installation with DP1 (through DP4), my guess is that you'll be able to do the same with the Public Beta. Just a guess though...



They were more the proof-of-concept releases for 10.1.



Um, things won't work and you won't be able to downgrade without wiping and restoring from a Time Machine back-up?


I install on main machine yes?
Rating: 5 Votes
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Dilster3k
60 months ago

That seems like a very bad idea. I mean iOS8 won't be a public beta so two separate iClouds will confuse and anger many people



i doubt that, the implementation is pretty much useless and half the icons in the taskbar will be impossible to read cuz they havent been updated by the devs to support dark mode

Image (http://oi60.tinypic.com/hupmoo.jpg)


I don't use 3rd-Party software in my menu bar.
Rating: 5 Votes
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576316
60 months ago

Hoping for IOS 8 public beta also


iOS 8 is not getting a public beta. For reasons which are too long to explain, iOS may not get a public beta for some years to come. Just be glad it looks like we'll be getting a Mac OS public beta from now on.
Rating: 4 Votes
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UncleSchnitty
60 months ago

This post needs to be stickied to the top of this thread in 72 point red text. :cool:

Get ready for the even bigger flood of "How do I go back to Mavericks" and "Handoff not working" I do think its stable enough for Beta but the fact is people don't understand what Beta means and think it just means early access to a finished product.
Rating: 4 Votes

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