14 DAY TRIAL // Alongside a new iOS beta, Apple today offers an updated GM candidate of OS X Yosemite, the company’s upcoming desktop OS for Mac users worldwide.
OS X Yosemite GM Candidate 2 may well be the latest development release before the final rollout later this month.
Potential release on October 16
Apple is said to hold a media event at its Town Hall auditorium in Cupertino next week. The date is believed to be October 16, meaning that the media invitations could be sent out any day now.
At the showcase, the company is reportedly set to unveil a new generation of iPads and a Retina-enabled iMac. Other potential announcements and / or releases include an updated Apple TV box and OS X Yosemite itself.
The OS will either launch during the event or shortly thereafter. In any case, everyone has its eyes set on October. However, it’s worth pointing out that Apple’s site continues to state a “fall” release schedule, which can be any day through November.
Yosemite GM Candidate 2
Apple is now offering the second Golden Master build of Yosemite. A GM candidate, as the name implies, is a near-final build of the software which the company plans to roll out very soon. In the past, Apple would only need a single GM release before the public launch of any software. These days it’s no longer a rule.
GM Candidate 2 arrives quietly and without any big changes. Apple probably just squashed a bug or two and now wants to make sure everything is good to go.
How to download
Developers looking to download Yosemite GM for the first time will need to ensure that they are using a 64-bit, Intel-based Mac running either Mac OS X v10.6.8 Snow Leopard or later and have at least 8GB of free disk space.
OS X Yosemite developer builds are not to be used in commercial operating environments or with important data. According to Apple, “You should back up all of your data before installing this software and regularly back up data while using the software.”
Yosemite GM Candidate 2 can be obtained from the Mac Dev Center and supports the following Macs: iMac (Mid 2007 or newer), MacBook Air (Late 2008 or newer), MacBook (Late 2008 Aluminum or Early 2009 or newer), Mac mini (Early 2009 or newer), MacBook Pro (Mid/Late 2007 or newer), Mac Pro (Early 2008 or newer), and Xserve (Early 2009). The download is free, and the same goes for Xcode 6.1 GM 2, which allows you to code apps for OS X 10.10.