Apple Users

sir pball

(4,946 posts) Wed Apr 23, 2014, 10:49 AM Apr 2014

Test-drive OS X betas for free!

Apple has OS X Beta Seed Program to anybody with an Apple ID (formerly, it was reserved for developers who'd coughed up $99/year). If you have a spare Mac that you want to toy with, or like living dangerously and want to run it "live", you can sign up here to get the access package. It's just an addon to the App Store that lets you install the latest beta OS X as easily as Mavericks. Pretty nifty.

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Test-drive OS X betas for free! (Original Post) sir pball Apr 2014 OP

Given that it took something like four hours to install Mavericks NV Whino Apr 2014 #1

Don't be flippant about signing Apple's Non-Disclosure agreement brooklynite Apr 2014 #2

I've been under more than one NDA, sir pball Apr 2014 #3

Hmmm...might do that. 47of74 May 2014 #4

NV Whino

(20,886 posts)

1. Given that it took something like four hours to install Mavericks

Reply to sir pball (Original post)

Wed Apr 23, 2014, 07:15 PM

Apr 2014

I think I'll pass.

brooklynite

(96,882 posts)

2. Don't be flippant about signing Apple's Non-Disclosure agreement

Reply to sir pball (Original post)

Wed Apr 23, 2014, 07:42 PM

Apr 2014

I've signed a couple and I wouldn't risk revealing anything I wasn't supposed to.

sir pball

(4,946 posts)

3. I've been under more than one NDA,

Reply to brooklynite (Reply #2)

Thu Apr 24, 2014, 10:40 AM

Apr 2014

Both governmental and private; I'm entirely glib about this one since I suspect it's there as legal boilerplate* and, dead serious here, to make participants feel special, part of a "secret club".

Given that the product is entirely compiled, finished, complete software that has exactly the same access restrictions as the release version (an Apple ID), I doubt there's much in there that Apple would, or even could, go after a user for sharing; sure, it's all technically walled off by the agreement but the gate in the wall barely has a latch, let alone a lock. Can't really say the product isn't "general public knowledge" when the general public has unfettered access to it.

* - Ok, so if the beta of 10.10 has some nifty new core technology like launchd, Grand Central Dispatch, or timer coalescing (most of which are open-sourced anyway) and somebody went through the trouble of decompiling and working out the details, I could see Apple dropping Mjolnir on them, and that probably is why the NDA is there, but that's a pretty specific and implausible situation.

47of74

(18,470 posts)

4. Hmmm...might do that.

Reply to sir pball (Original post)

Fri May 9, 2014, 08:23 PM

May 2014

I'm thinking of getting a Mac Mini to put everything (photos, movies, documents, etc) on and keeping my 2011 MacBook Pro around for when I need a laptop. Maybe I'll go for the beta program then and use that on my MBP.

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