14 DAY TRIAL // Cupertino, California-based computer maker Apple Inc. has released an invitation to select customers to issue an OS X 10.8.1 beta to them for testing purposes. The same build will be released to developers soon, in an attempt to fix some recently-identified bugs.
Since the 25 July release of OS X Mountain Lion, customers have noticed a few bugs here and there, one of which seemingly affects battery life on MacBook computers. It isn’t clear what’s causing the drainage. What is clear is that Apple has to address this issue ASAP.
Another bug, discovered by Daniel Jalkut, founder of Red Sweater Software, is causing a networking issue in OS X Mountain Lion that could be related to the “Auto Proxy Discovery” and “Automatic Proxy Configuration” settings in Network preferences.
The Save As function that Apple put back inside the File menu is still very confusing and, in fact, has a flaw. It overwrites the original file, even when the user chooses to save the document under a different name.
And these are just some of the issues OS X 10.8.1 might need to address, which is why Apple is calling out to select customers to participate in the next AppleSeed program to help the company assess the best method to iron out these bugs.
“You are invited to participate in a Mountain Lion Software Update seed project! Apple will provide you with pre-release software. We ask that you install and test each build to help us make sure that 10.8.1 is a high quality release!”
Testers will be given access to feedback forums and bug-writing tools, and they will have to sign a confidentiality agreement that prevents them from discussing details with the outside world about this pre-release software (makes one feel important).
We’ll be reporting back on this when developers get the seed too, hopefully along with some release notes.