Download Free Beta of OS X Lion-Compatible Cocktail 5.0

A public beta version of Cocktail 5.0 Lion Edition is now available for download, Maintain has announced.

According to the software company, this is a time-limited beta, but it is free of charge and does not require a valid license.

Maintain says the final version of Cocktail 5.0 Lion Edition will be released in August 2011, whereas OS X Lion is scheduled to debut any day now.

In launching a Lion-compatible build of Cocktail, Maintain is likely ensuring that customers who already use the app don’t mess up their current settings.

The developer has provided no specifics as to what’s changed in Cocktail for Lion, leaving us to assume it features only under-the-hood tweaks so that it can run smoothly on Apple’s yet-unreleased OS.

The beta build of Cocktail will most likely be installed as a separate instance of the program. The latest version for Snow Leopard users is 4.9.4.

Both the free Lion beta and the latest stable build for Snow Leopard can be downloaded using the link below.

Download Cocktail for Mac OS X

Those who are currently running a Lion build - whether they’ve downloaded it legitimately from Apple’s servers, or through other means - and are not familiar with Cocktail, the utility is a general purpose toolset with a variety of practical features that simplify the use of advanced UNIX functions and helps users get the most out of their computers.

Maintain describes its flagship product saying “The application serves up a scrumptious mix of maintenance tools and interface tweaks, all accessible via a comprehensive graphical interface.”

Five basic categories hold Cocktail's major features. A notable function is “Pilot,” which lets users clean, repair and optimize their system with a single mouse click. Cocktail also lets you customize the look and features of Finder, Dock and the OS X login screen.