You Should Sign up Today for Tomorrow’s Apple OS X Yosemite Beta Launch

Apple’s making big changes to Mac OS X with 10.10 Yosemite, which will be akin to iOS 7’s visual overhaul. So they’re holding a public beta to make sure it goes smoothly and probably to avoid some of the (mostly unwarranted) backlash that came along with the iOS 7 release. It starts tomorrow, but they won’t accept everyone, so you should sign up as soon as you can.

All you need to get involved is a Mac that’s capable of running OS X Yosemite and an Apple ID. If you’ve got both of those things, just head over to Apple’s OS X Beta Program page for quick and easy signup. Again, the program is limited to the first 1 million users to sign up, so you should do it immediately if you’re interested, and then you’ll hopefully be greeted with a screen like this:

Some more pertinent information Apple wants you to be aware of before participating:

Be sure that your Mac is running OS X Mavericks. If you don’t have OS X Mavericks, you can download it free from the Mac App Store. We recommend installing OS X Yosemite Beta on a secondary Mac, since it may contain errors or inaccuracies. Please be sure to back up your Mac using Time Machine before you install the beta. Since the beta software is unfinished, some new features will not be available, such as phone calls, SMS, Handoff, Instant Hotspot, and iCloud Drive. Spotlight suggestions are U.S.-based only. Some applications and services may not work properly with the beta software. When creating or making changes to documents stored in iCloud, your documents will sync only with Macs running the OS X Yosemite Beta and with iOS devices running iOS 8.

Also be aware that this is different from Apple’s Mavericks Beta Seed Program, which allows users to test out 10.9 OS updates early. You’ll need to sign up for the Yosemite beta separately.

Lastly, keep in mind that the point of beta testing is to help find bugs. Apple’s terms of service don’t want you blogging, tweeting, instagramming, or using whatever social media outlet your prefer to spread information about their unfinished software. There’s a great post on Macworld (and an FAQ from Apple) about how to be a good beta tester and properly report bugs to Apple that you should read over before starting your beta test.

Good luck!

(via The Next Web)

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Dan Van Winkle

Dan Van Winkle (he) is an editor and manager who has been working in digital media since 2013, first at now-defunct Geekosystem (RIP), and then at The Mary Sue starting in 2014, specializing in gaming, science, and technology. Outside of his professional experience, he has been active in video game modding and development as a hobby for many years. He lives in North Carolina with Lisa Brown (his wife) and Liz Lemon (their dog), both of whom are the best, and you will regret challenging him at Smash Bros.

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