Imagine this, one place where you can find all the latest beta applications for the mac, tech news, beta information and jobs for coders, software interface designers and of coarse, testers. Introducing codename Vio. Well I aim to make this dream into reality, one website for beta testers who want to make an impact and for companies and developers who want to get their product out there. Clear design, easy navigation and no ads are the main priorities for this project. I'm sixteen years old with no web coding experience or even money to host the site, so at the moment I'm trying to find a free website hosting service. If anyone is interested in taking this new concept to new heights and want to use their skills to help out, drop me a line via the Vox mail service or email me at millsy2.0@gmail.com. Stay tuned to this blog for the latest updates on the progress of the project but eventually this blog will be merged into the website. By the way this is Mac Beta's 10th post ;).
Cheers
Alex Mills
I like a bit of variety so here is a post that has nothing to do with beta applications, Mac OS X or even applications for that matter. My favorite flavor of Linux, Ubuntu, is about to release the next version of their Desktop and Server distributions on the 19th of April. Ubuntu 7.04 or Feisty Fawn will follow 6.06 LTS with the exception that Feisty will not be a long term support product. Features of this latest upgrade include a new Windows Migration Tool, which recognizes your internet explorer bookmarks, Firefox favorites, desktop wall paper, AOL IM and Yahoo IM contacts and then imports them into Ubuntu during installation. A new multimedia wizard for safe and easy installation of multimedia codecs not included with Ubuntu. An updated wireless network component makes discovering and working with wireless networks a breeze. 7.04 is built on the Linux 2.6.20 kernel with the Gnome 2.18 desktop environment and the updated versions of the included applications. Me personally I cant wait to try this new version out as I'm all for making Linux for Human Beings. You can now put an order through ship-it as I have to get the free CDs sent to you in either the 32 or 64 bit versions or both but the discs will not be created until the 19th. As soon as I get it I will provide you with my thoughts and experiences with Feisty. For more info on the new OS head here.
Though out of beta and now tagged as 'Pre-release' they still deserve a mention. Via their Labs site Adobe has made After Effects CS3 and Premier Pro CS3 available for download for free, to anyone who wants them. After Effects CS3 Pro, competitor to Apple Inc's Motion software is a special effects and animation software for graphic designers, visual effects artists, video editors and media web designers. An unfinished product is well, unfinished so there will be issues and in After Effects case OpenGL has been disabled on Macs but they are working with Apple to solve the problem. Premier Pro CS3, video editing and publishing software is the same deal, available for download but with caution as DV capture from tape is not functional in Mac OS X 10.4.9 but Adobe states that this will be fixed with an update to Mac OS and not their software. If you wish use this feature you must reinstall 10.4 with your system disks and then update to 10.4.8 but other then that everything works in 10.4.9. Its not all glory for us as these are limited time releases and will expire August 31st 2007. Available from the Adobe Labs Site
Slowly Google has been porting and building new applications for the best platform of them all, Mac OS X. The latest beta from Google is their mac version of Google Desktop, which is a mixture of the main concept used on the PC but created from the ground up to work in sync with Mac OS X. Users of the PC version will find many similarities including the integration of Google Web search. For those of you who have never seen or used Google desktop before, it is an application that first indexes your hard drive, web history, and Gmail and then provides a simple way to search for damn near any file on your computer as well as the net or Gmail. For more information on how it works check this out. Features in this beta version include support for virtually all your files including 11 specialty Apple files, the ability to search your web history and Gmail accounts, launch applications in a similar way to Quicksilver and the ability to search different versions of one file or document. It is pretty advanced for a first beta but Google has been working on it now for a fair while. To download, check out the features or peak behind the scenes hit the links.
The mother of all betas, well technically its not called a beta and it would cost me around $7000au just to try it out but hey if Apple doesn't delay it again because of the iPhone, we can all buy it for a much cheaper price in October. This build has some interesting new features and a new theme. Applications including iCal, Mail, PhotoBooth, Safari and Automator to name a few have all had the versions upgraded but still in beta form. There are tons of bugs in this release, both coding and graphical but I believe this has been the hardest leopard build to get working. The finder has had a much needed basic layout revamp as well as its new QuickView feature that is now working a whole lot better and faster. Two new applications in this build are, Directory, an application that interfaces with Mac OS X 10.5 server and PodCast Capture which can also interface and connect with Leopard Server. Think Secret has a gallery up of the build that also displays the new system wide theme and buttons which now makes the GUI even less consistent. I don't mind the new theme but I hope they decide to do something more flashy though. If your counting down the days till October then these screen shots should keep you sane for a at least a little while.
UPDATE: Fixed the gallery link.
Ankur Kothari over at dev.lipidity.com/fumo has a new interface beta for my favorite application launcher, Quicksilver. This is a gorgeous interface that combines everything of the large original Primer interface into a smaller more intelligently designed layout. The twin section view of primer has been rearranged into a single section that includes everything from the twin view into an easier to understand layout. Me personally I love it as much as the application itself so they must be doing something right. A very early beta-fide feature of the Fumo interface is a smoke generator that uses the framework from the Disco burning application, when launched, pressing cmd-S turns on the smoke. I have not had a good run with the smoke, mine is not center and any changes made to the settings has no effect on it. If you click the screen shot below you will see that it is also not always actually attached to the interface either, this shot was taken so I could cut out the interface to put with this post but I couldn't resist showing you the smoke. This is still a beta so its not perfect and really the smoke is just eye candy, it doesn't help you in any way. Head over to download Fumo and for those who prefer a healthy desktop there is a non smoking version available too.
I was lucky enough to be in the first private group of testers for Microsoft's latest Internet Explorer application, I had previously done private beta testing for Windows Media Player 10 and 11 which was a blast but this app was different. To use IE7 was a dream and it looked even better but the most requested interface fix was moving the refresh and stop buttons back over to the left side of the address bar next to the back and forward buttons. Time and time again Microsoft said that it was a great idea and that they would fix it, but when the all the future test versions came out it still had the original placement. I was only on the interface team but one thing I can tell you is that Microsoft had no plans on changing anything on the design of IE7. The interface on the version shipped with Windows Vista and available to download for XP is exactly the same as the original test versions, only the application code and bugs were fixed. To me it defeated the point of even having an interface testing group which is kind of sad as a lot of other companies actually listen to what the testers have to say and it helps in making the final version the best it can be. If you have an experience of beta testing for Microsoft leave a comment, id love to hear them.
Just a quick update, I have just applied my custom header and color scheme for the blog and in true beta tester style I want to know what you guys think. I want to see comments on what you think of it, any improvements or problems you have found. Hope you like it.
It is pretty cool to see the fruits of your labor, well we only do beta testing but if we were not needed they wouldn't release beta versions of applications would they now. My priority application testing at the moment is VMware's Fusion, virtualisation software for the mac that lets you run any Intel or AMD compatible operating system inside of Mac OS X 10.4.8. Beta 3 is now available for download and by public demand debugging can now be turned off, other improvements include greater performance and stability, support for boot camp partitions, enhanced virtual machine creation and easy Windows installations. Overall its a cleaner release in terms of code and interface but the most important thing is that it is easy to use and runs like a dream. For more details or to download go here
Cheers
Alex Mills
Welcome all, and welcome to your one stop place for hot new beta applications for the mac as well as articles on user interface and software design. I will keep it updated as much as possible and I hope you have fantastic time here.
Thank you for checking out my blog and I hope you are not disappointed.
Cheers
Alex Mills
on Google Desktop for Mac beta