Apple has released yet another OS X Mavericks beta preview download for developers who want to test out the unfinished Mac operating system in advance of its 2013 release date, to make sure their Mac apps work correctly under the new system software. That’s led to the inevitable temptation on the part of adventurous Mac users to hunt down the Mavericks download and install it themselves in order to see what all the fuss is about in an ad hoc beta test of their own.
It’s technically illegal, but practically speaking there’s nothing to stop a Mac user from seeking out a pirate version of the Mavericks beta and installing it. Our advice: don’t.
OS X Mavericks is remarkably far along in its first beta, with our editorial experimentation revealing several features to be complete or nearly complete on a fairly stable system. It’s the
“fairly stable” part
that’s the problem. When the beta-test version of an app goes sour, you might lose the data you’ve stored in that app.
But when the beta-test version of an operating system goes south, there’s a good chance you’ll lose everything you have on that Mac. And even after removing the beta, you may still face lingering problems short of performing a full wipe and restore.
Developers keep an extra Mac around just for testing purposes, and that’s where they’re installing the OS X Mavericks beta. If they’re not crazy enough to install it on a Mac they have real data on and use for real things, you shouldn’t either. That advice changes in the all when OS X Mavericks is released to the public for real. Best to wait until that time to dive in.