{"id":6106,"date":"2014-07-30T12:25:53","date_gmt":"2014-07-30T16:25:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.nccomputertech.com\/?p=6106"},"modified":"2014-07-30T12:25:53","modified_gmt":"2014-07-30T16:25:53","slug":"13-things-os-x-yosemite-beta-testers-need-to-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2014\/07\/30\/13-things-os-x-yosemite-beta-testers-need-to-know\/","title":{"rendered":"13 things OS X Yosemite beta testers need to know"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

For the first time since the OS X beta test of 2000, Apple is allowing Mac users to test and provide feedback on a prerelease version of OS X. The first 1 million people to sign up for the beta program through Apple\u2019s Web page\u2014which crashed under heavy traffic on Thursday after the public beta became available\u2014get a redemption code to download the Yosemite beta via the Mac App Store.<\/p>\n

Remember this? The last time Apple offered a public beta was in 2000. The preview version of the first iteration of OS X came on a disk with a handy how-to guide.<\/p>\n

Further reading: Macworld’s Yosemite FAQ and hands-on with Yosemite series<\/p>\n

Design changes<\/p>\n

Notification Center<\/p>\n

Spotlight<\/p>\n

Safari<\/p>\n

Mail, Messages, and Calendar<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re lucky enough to be one of those beta testers, congratulations! Here\u2019s a quick rundown of what you should know and keep in mind about the beta as you start poking around Apple\u2019s latest operating system. (The final version is due out this fall.)<\/p>\n

1. The beta is a work in progress<\/p>\n

First and foremost, keep in mind that this isn\u2019t the official release of the software; Apple is still testing and tweaking Yosemite. That means it may not function as expected. Some features may be completely absent or could differ from what Apple showed off during its WWDC keynote in June\u2014and some features may look very different in the final release. Even some of the standard features available in Mavericks or earlier versions of OS X may be missing, nonfunctional or just different. That\u2019s because a major OS upgrade, particularly one like Yosemite that makes major changes to the user experience, often involves updating or altering existing functions, including core components that aren\u2019t visible to most users.<\/p>\n

2. A public beta isn\u2019t the same as a developer preview<\/p>\n

Apple has already released beta versions of Yosemite to members of its Mac developer program. The most recent was made available to them earlier this week, with revisions arriving roughly every two weeks. In fact, the version of Yosemite offered as the public beta has a different build number (it\u2019s one digit higher) than the version developers received on Monday.<\/p>\n

Apple\u2019s FAQ for the Yosemite beta indicates that beta testers may not see updates at the same rate as developers. There\u2019s a good chance this means beta testers will see less frequent updates than developers.<\/p>\n

Other differences are likely to include support, resources or some functionality. Developers are receiving the betas to build and\/or test apps running under Yosemite and make changes if needed. Beta testers are being asked to provide feedback. Those are rather different roles, and developers aren\u2019t likely to provide the type of feedback\u2014general user interface (UI) issues or consumer-oriented feature requests\u2014that Apple is looking for from public beta testers.<\/p>\n

3. Explore Yosemite and report back to Apple<\/p>\n

Apple\u2019s goal with this program is largely to solicit feedback about Yosemite, particularly about its new UI. If there are things that aren\u2019t working, are confusing, seem like they should work better, or that you really dislike, you should report them to Apple using the Feedback Assistant that\u2019s included. During the public beta prior to the release of OS X in 2000, Apple made several changes based on user feedback\u2014the most obvious was restoring the Apple menu in the shipping version of OS X, which had been replaced with an Apple logo in the middle of the menu bar.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Full Story: 13 things OS X Yosemite beta testers need to know | PCWorld<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For the first time since the OS X beta test of 2000, Apple is allowing Mac users to test and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2,9],"tags":[785,1269],"class_list":["post-6106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-apple","category-software","tag-os-x","tag-yosemite"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/papNkV-1Au","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6466,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2014\/09\/24\/apple-releases-icloud-drive-for-windows-mac-users-have-to-wait-until-yosemite-is-out\/","url_meta":{"origin":6106,"position":0},"title":"Apple releases iCloud Drive for Windows, Mac users have to wait until Yosemite is out","author":"NCCT","date":"September 24, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Apple started rolling a revamped version of iCloud this week with the arrival of iOS 8. Dubbed iCloud Drive, the cloud storage service is now more akin to Dropbox and Google Drive in that you can actually access and store stuff through a file system. But while iPhone users who\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Apple"","block_context":{"text":"Apple","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/apple\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5757,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2014\/06\/13\/dailytech-apple-reveals-os-x-yosemite-gives-it-a-fresh-coat-of-paint\/","url_meta":{"origin":6106,"position":1},"title":"DailyTech – Apple Reveals OS X “Yosemite”, Gives it a Fresh Coat of Paint","author":"NCCT","date":"June 13, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Apple's PC operating system gets an iOS 7-style makeover OS X is Apple\u2019s premiere desktop operating system, and it\u2019s getting a big update with OS X 10.10 \u201cYosemite\u201d. The \u201cflat\u201d user interface that was first introduced with iOS 7 has been deftly transferred to OS X. So for people that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Apple"","block_context":{"text":"Apple","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/apple\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8004,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2015\/04\/10\/latest-version-of-os-x-closes-backdoor-like-bug-that-gives-attackers-root\/","url_meta":{"origin":6106,"position":2},"title":"Latest version of OS X closes Backdoor-like bug that gives attackers root","author":"NCCT","date":"April 10, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"For at least four years, a bug in Apple's OS X gave untrusted users\u2014and possibly remote hackers with only limited control of their target\u2014unfettered \"root\" privileges over Macs. The vulnerability is being called a \"hidden backdoor\" by Emil Kvarnhammar, the security researcher who discovered the bug and privately reported it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Apple"","block_context":{"text":"Apple","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/apple\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/backdoor-640x425.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/backdoor-640x425.png?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/backdoor-640x425.png?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7852,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2015\/03\/20\/13-inch-broadwell-macbook-showdown-should-you-go-pro-or-get-an-air\/","url_meta":{"origin":6106,"position":3},"title":"13-inch Broadwell MacBook showdown: Should you go Pro or get an Air?","author":"NCCT","date":"March 20, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The 13-inch MacBook Pro and the 13-inch MacBook Air were once very different computers that served very different needs. One was bulkier but pretty fast and user-serviceable, while the other was thin-and-light to a fault, arriving with anemic low-power CPUs and GPUs, slow hard drives, and no easy means to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Apple"","block_context":{"text":"Apple","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/apple\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/dsc00299-980x653.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/dsc00299-980x653.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/dsc00299-980x653.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/dsc00299-980x653.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3220,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2013\/08\/20\/modern-ui-firefox-browser-for-windows-8-to-leave-beta-on-december-10th\/","url_meta":{"origin":6106,"position":4},"title":"Modern UI Firefox browser for Windows 8 to leave beta on December 10th","author":"NCCT","date":"August 20, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"It's been a long wait for Windows 8 users of Mozilla's Firefox browser, but there is now light at the end of the tunnel for those people who have been waiting for the \"Modern\" UI version to be released as a non-beta build. This week, Mozilla's development calendar page was\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Software"","block_context":{"text":"Software","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/software\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8708,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2015\/11\/05\/new-windows-10-beta-build-is-all-about-bug-fixes\/","url_meta":{"origin":6106,"position":5},"title":"New Windows 10 beta build is all about bug fixes","author":"NCCT","date":"November 5, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Blair Hanley Frank | PCWorld Microsoft on Thursday launched another beta build of Windows 10 to public testers that's crammed full of bug fixes and performance improvements. Build 10586 is going out to people who have signed up to get bleeding-edge updates through the Windows Insider Program, and is supposed\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Microsoft"","block_context":{"text":"Microsoft","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/microsoft\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6106"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6106\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}