May 15th, 2000

[Editorial] Announced OS X Public Beta Hides The Real Issue by Kyle D'Addario Can't wait for OS X? Unfortunately, you are going to have to. In terrible news sugar coated as good news, Apple today announced that their next generation operating system, promised to us by this summer, will now, at the earliest, be available in January, 2001. The original schedule laid out before Mac users at MACWORLD San Francisco (MWSF) this past January had a full beta version of OS X shipping by this time, with a final release later in the summer, presumably at MACWORLD New York (MWNY). However, today's WWDC keynote saw the announcement of another Developer Preview (version 4), not a fully functioning beta. In a somewhat surprising move, Apple did announce that a public beta of OS X will be available later this summer, again presumably MWNY. With an apparently extensive beta period, nearly 6 months, the final release of OS X is said to be in January, probably at MWSF 2001. The announcement of a public beta test period will be met with much rejoicing from a number of Apple developers and product testers. Poor beta test periods have been blamed for the unpopular interface in QuickTime 4 and Sherlock 2, as well as the recent buggy release, and immediate patch, of QuickTime 4.1.2. The news that Apple is going to go with an extended public beta period almost assures that many of the issues regarding the Aqua interface, set up and usability, and stability will be ironed out in the shipping version. However, this is covering up the real issue. Apple has again let the release of their next OS to slip, this time by a minimum of 6 months. We have heard that a new OS will be released "…in the next 6 months" since sometime in 1996 when Copland was promised to us. This latest move by Apple is another hint of their old incompetence. True, a public beta test period will be advantageous, and should provide a cleaner, more usable final product. However, that test period should be now, not 2 months from now, and certainly should not result in yet another delay for our "next generation OS," another broken promise to Mac users. Since I first got my hands on DP 3 to "play" around with, there is not one day that has gone by that I have not thought, "I can not wait for OS X." Despite the complaints about the interface, and the layout, and the big icons, and the worthless dock, the system promised something far better than what I know now. Minimized crashing, faster performance, greater worldly compatibility…everything I have ever wanted in an OS was laid out in front of me. Now, however, we are forced to wait again. The announced time line, and at this point I'll believe it when I see it, also puzzles me. Pushing new hardware for the holiday rush becomes tricky. Users are likely going to hold off knowing that the entire OS is going to need an upgrade just after their shiny new computer is turned on and set up. The switch from your current OS to OS X is not going to be an easy one; drives will need to be reformatted, files backed up, new drivers downloaded and installed. By all accounts, it is going to be a mess. So why would a user want to go through that trouble twice within a matter of weeks, upgrading from OS 9.x to OS X? I wouldn't, nor do I think many other people would. Do not let the "announcement" of a public beta release fool you. This is indeed bad news, and another broken promise. My patience with Apple is wearing thin.