14 DAY TRIAL // Following an internal beta program, Apple has seeded the first open beta of OS X 10.9.1 to developers with a handful of focus areas and no known issues.
Apple tells developers, “OS X Mavericks Update 10.9.1 is an update to OS X Mavericks 10.9.”
According to people who are familiar with the software, the mother ship has instructed developers to focus their testing efforts around components like Mail, Graphics Drivers, and the VoiceOver accessibility feature.
As usual, Apple asks developers to note that “This build is being provided […] for testing and development purposes.”
The Cupertino company instructs testers to submit a bug report using the online Bug Reporter, should they encounter any problems.
Testers downloading their first OS X beta will need to log into their Apple Developer account and download the "OS X Software Update Seed Configuration Utility."
The utility can then be used to download OS X Mavericks 10.9.1. OS X Mavericks was released on October 22 as a free download from the Mac App Store.
It brings apps like iBooks and Maps from iOS, and has new features like a new version of Safari with shared links, iCloud Keychain, enhanced multi-display support, Finder tabs and tags, and a number of power-saving functions.
Two of these functions are Timer Coalescing and App Nap, which intelligently reduce power consumption on MacBooks.
Another power saver is Mavericks’ habit of compressing memory, which “automatically shrinks inactive data to keep your Mac fast and responsive.”
“Mavericks also delivers significant performance enhancements for systems with integrated graphics through optimized OpenCL support and dynamic video memory allocation,” Apple says.
Mavericks requires a 64-bit, Intel-based Mac running Mac OS X v10.6.7 Snow Leopard or later, 8GB of free disk space, and about two gigs of RAM. To develop applications for OS X Mavericks, Xcode 5.0.1 is required.