14 DAY TRIAL // Apple on Wednesday tapped select members of its developer community to inform them of a new testing initiative involving the upcoming version of Mountain Lion – OS X 10.8.3.
People familiar with the matter say the invites were only sent to a select few developers, suggesting Apple is looking to keep development under tight wraps.
OS X betas have generally been an open topic for discussion, allowing the Apple fan base to learn about every new feature ahead of a Final release. Things may change, starting with this beta, as OS X 10.8.3 seems to be surrounded by more secrecy than usual.
“You are invited to participate in the next Mountain Lion Software Update seed project, OS X 10.8.3,” reads the invitation.
No further details are offered, but there’s a good chance we’ll learn more when the builds are actually offered for download.
OS X 10.8.3 will be the third maintenance update to Apple’s Mountain Lion operating system, following OS X 10.8.1 and, most notably, OS X 10.8.2.
The latter delivered Facebook integration, Power Nap support for more Mac models, New shared Reminders lists, improved Dictation, a French dictionary, Game Center updates, and a truckload of bug fixes.
A supplemental 10.8.2 update has also been released with fixes for an issue that may cause certain Japanese characters to appear incorrectly in Mail, a problem that may prevent systems with more than 64 GB of RAM from starting up, and another bug that may cause DVD Player to unexpectedly quit.
The update also includes some tweaks to how Safari accesses secure sites when parental controls are enabled.
As expected, OS X 10.8.3 has no release schedule set. As such, we’re at the mercy of developers who may or may not leak any details during their testing period.
For your peace of mind, they most likely will.