you beta believe it! —

Apple releases OS X Yosemite Public Beta 2 to testers

Update should increase stability, continues Yosemite's visual transformation.

Beta users will also get a new build of iTunes 12.
Enlarge / Beta users will also get a new build of iTunes 12.
Andrew Cunningham

Apple has just released the first update to the OS X Yosemite Public Beta, about a month after the first beta shipped. If you skipped the first beta but would like to give this one a try, Apple's sign-up page still appears to be accepting new testers (the company said that it would close the program down after the first million sign-ups, a number that apparently hasn't been hit yet).

The build number of the new beta indicates that it's roughly the same as Yosemite Developer Beta 6, which was released earlier this week to registered iOS and OS X developers. The first public beta was more or less identical to Developer Beta 4.

In the space of those two developer betas, Apple has been working to squash out bugs and has further Yosemite-ized more traditional OS X components. The volume and brightness overlays have been changed to match the frosted translucent look used elsewhere in the OS, and Apple added a new batch of Yosemite-themed wallpapers. Additional application and System Preferences icons have also been redesigned to match Yosemite's simpler, "flatter" look.

The new beta can be downloaded via Software Update and requires a restart to install—if you've installed a standard OS X point update before, you already know the drill. We don't know how many more versions of the public beta Apple will release between now and Yosemite's official launch date in the fall, but beta users will be able to update directly to the finished "golden master" build of the OS without having to completely reinstall Yosemite. John Siracusa's full review of Yosemite will be posted once the final OS ships.

Channel Ars Technica