Apple Confirms Upcoming Release of OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion DP / GM

Apple is preparing to roll out a new development build of OS X Mountain Lion ahead of the public release, as the company is working to re-instate hardware compatibility with some older Macintosh models.

In the documentation accompanying OS X Mountain Lion Developer Preview 3 Build 12A206J, Apple confirms that one particular MacBook Pro cannot handle the software.

No specifics are given, but Apple clearly states that MacBook Pro 3,1 models are not supported in this build of Mountain Lion.

The company adds (emphasis ours) that “future developer previews will restore support for this configuration.”

In other words, expect at least a new developer preview until the final release of the software. The next build may well be Golden Master (GM), which generally marks the end-of-development for a particular piece of software at Apple.

With one month to go until WWDC 2012 and the highly-anticipated unveiling of a finalized Mountain Lion, there’s a good chance Apple will be seeding the next beta within a week or so, ensuring all of the bugs have been ironed out until then.

There’s a also a chance OS X Mountain Lion won’t launch publicly at WWDC, but Apple wants a polished up OS to demo on stage.

Apple has strangely accelerated development on the server side to Developer Preview 4, whereas Client testers are still stuck on Developer Preview 3 (albeit updated around the same time Server DP 4 rolled out).

There are still three weeks left until WWDC 2012 kicks off, during which Apple may release OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion Developer Preview 4 Client.

When finalized, Mountain Lion will be released as one operating system for both Client and Server users, the latter group requiring an additional download from the Mac App Store to install Server-centric apps and services.

Apple has promised a late-Summer release, though it is not unheard-of for the Cupertino giant to release major new versions of OS X earlier than expected.