14 DAY TRIAL // Following last week’s reports on Apple seeding a new Mac OS X 10.6.3 developer build, the alleged owner of a Core i7 iMac said that his Software Update showed up the respective 10.6.3 pre-release build. This reportedly happened on the exact same day Apple handed out the incremental update to its community of testers.
"I got a new 27-inch iMac earlier this week," the person in question wrote to TUAW. "Last night I checked for updates and it starts 'Downloading **PRERELEASE** Mac OS X Update...' I figured what the heck and let it go. Now my iMac is on 10.6.3 which as far as I know isn't available yet?! I am not a developer or anything so I am not sure why this happened," he explained.
The report continues to shed light on the matter with TUAW noting that its reader had bought his 27-inch iMac not from an Apple retail store, but online, through the company’s web interface. The reader is not an Apple staffer either, according to the news piece, and therefore doesn’t have access to Apple’s RSA Secure ID or VPN, requirements, which otherwise can nab you a pre-release version of Mac OS X. Also noted is the fact that the user performed his update not at an Apple retail store, but at home.
In tight Apple circles, it is known that "**PRERELEASE**" updates refer to Apple-internal builds. These are distributed to any Apple employee with access to the company’s VPN, TUAW points out. Typically seeded to employees some 24 hours before the build goes public, a pre-release build such as 10D572 would signal that testing is over.
It remains to be confirmed whether or not this information is accurate, as well as how the user in question was granted access to this pre-release build of Mac OS X. However, since the newest 10.6.3 build was seeded just two days after 10D571, all signs point to a public launch, this week.