14 DAY TRIAL // A new Mountain Lion beta is now available to developers for testing, Softpedia learned earlier today. The focus areas listed by Apple in OS X 10.8.3 build 12D74 are the same ones spanning the last 12 seeds.
Apple has sent a notice to registrants of its annual seeding program informing them that “A pre-release build of OS X Mountain Lion Software Update 10.8.3, build 12D74, is now available for testing.”
As with the last 12 seeds, OS X 10.8.3 build 12D74 requires developers’ attention on AirPlay, AirPort, Game Center, Graphics Drivers, and Safari.
When made available to the general population, OS X 10.8.3 will address a number of bugs in Mountain Lion, including one nasty issue involving crashing apps.
Apparently, OS X has a soft spot for the word FILE followed by colon and three slashes. Any app that supports text will crash when the user types the respective eight characters (with the first letter as capital F).
To download the new Mountain Lion build, Apple Developer program members need to utilize the OS X Software Update Seed Configuration Utility.
OS X 10.8.3 betas mustn’t be installed on production machines, as the software may act up. As such, developers are instructed to install the beta on a partition they are prepared to erase if necessary.
“You will not be able to revert back to your previous system after updating,” Apple warns. “Please install this update on a system or partition you are prepared to erase if necessary.”
“As this is a pre-release build, it is not advisable to use this software on a production system with information on it that you depend on for your business.”
“You should back-up all of your data before installing this software and regularly back up data while using this software,” the company adds.