Panther Preview Release?

RatsPaw

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I haven't had a chance to watch the entire keynote yet, just bits and pieces, but there was a little bit on a TechTV article that said that there would be an option to preview Panther before it went gold. I know that full ADC members will be seeded builds as time passes, but is there going to be a Public Beta for Panther, like there was for Cheetah (10.0)? I figure it would definitely be a pay deal, but did anybody else hear this, or was the writer just smoking something?

Rat
 
This definitely wasn't in the Keynote. Jobs simply said that everyone at the conference was going to get a free "Developer Preview". I suspect it's possible that everyone in the Developer Connection channel will have access to a similar deal, perhaps at a fee, but I haven't heard anything about this.

I'm not sure what the legality of "sharing" a copy of the developer's preview is. I strongly suspect that the license prohibits this.
 
Yeah, it did sound a little odd when I read it, and it probably wouldn't be all that useful (who knows what software would actually run on it). I wouldn't trust any beta version of an OS on my primary machine, even OS X, but I know that the Carracho servers are already soliciting copies.

On the other hand, they did have the public beta for 10.0, and Apple probably wouldn't mind getting some easy cash from folks willing to try a beta of Panther.

Rat
 
The Public Beta for 10.0 was an entirely different matter - because it was the first Mac OS X release. So I'm certain there won't be any publicly available beta of Panther.
 
As I understand the G5's will all come with a coupon for a free copy of Panther when it comes out.
 
As I understand the G5's will all come with a coupon for a free copy of Panther when it comes out.

I've read just about every word of the G5 documentation, and I haven't seen anything like that mentioned. The Panther release is so far out (probably Dec or later) that I doubt Apple is going to give free upgrades to it. The only people who will be elligible for a free (read: $19.95 s/h) upgrade will be those who buy a Mac on the day of or anytime after the release date is announced.
 
At least I hope that Apple will improve a lot the Panther until then... Whenever "then" may be...

Boom! :D ;) :)
 
Originally posted by serpicolugnut
I've read just about every word of the G5 documentation, and I haven't seen anything like that mentioned. The Panther release is so far out (probably Dec or later) that I doubt Apple is going to give free upgrades to it. The only people who will be elligible for a free (read: $19.95 s/h) upgrade will be those who buy a Mac on the day of or anytime after the release date is announced.

As I understood it they would be coming with a version of 10.2 that included support for the new hardware but was basically a 32 bit OS. You really needed panther to get all of the 64 bit goodness so it was going to be sent out later. That said I have no recollection where I cam across that tidbit of information so it could have been scrawled on the inside of a bathroom stall somewhere :)
 
Originally posted by lurk
As I understood it they would be coming with a version of 10.2 that included support for the new hardware but was basically a 32 bit OS. You really needed panther to get all of the 64 bit goodness so it was going to be sent out later. That said I have no recollection where I cam across that tidbit of information so it could have been scrawled on the inside of a bathroom stall somewhere :)

Ah, that custom 10.2 build would be Smeagol.

http://www.macfixit.com/article.php?story=20030624075853683#comments
and
http://developer.apple.com/technotes/tn/tn2087.html
 
Somewhere I read that Jaguar users who purchased Jaguar in a retail box will be eligible for a $30 upgrade to Panther. Can't remember where, but I'm not one to pass on information I'm not pretty damn sure about... perhaps the Keynote? Or Macnn.com? I dunno, all I know is that I got happy when I read that having gotten Jaguar the day it was released... :D
 
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