Apple issues eighth macOS 10.12 Sierra beta to developers, seventh to public testers

With just over a week to go before Apple is expected to announce an official macOS 10.12 Sierra release date, the company on Monday issued the latest beta versions of the operating system to developers and public beta testers for evaluation.

Today's seeds come just hours after Apple sent out media invites for a special event on Sept. 7, at which the company is expected to unveil a set of new iPhone models. Traditionally, Apple's September events coincide with the release of new operating systems for iOS and Mac.

As for the beta versions, Apple's release notes contain no major changes or additions beyond ongoing bug fixes and performance improvements. Apple's most recent set of macOS Sierra betas released last week included a string of code referencing SuperSpeed+ support up to 10 gigabits per second, suggesting forthcoming Mac hardware will support the USB 3.1 Gen 2 standard.

Announced at the Worldwide Developers Conference in June, macOS Sierra promises a number of enhancements including a desktop version of Apple's Siri virtual assistant, as well as integration with Apple Pay for the web.

Developers can download macOS Sierra from Apple's Developer Portal or directly from the Mac App Store. Like past macOS Sierra builds, support for the latest beta version is limited to late-2009 or newer MacBooks and iMacs, and 2010 or newer MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, Mac mini and Mac Pro models.

7 Comments

lkrupp 10521 comments · 19 Years

About 8 years ago

With eight or more developer releases and 7 or more public beta releases macOS Sierra bound to be completely stable by Golden Master. But that won’t stop the usual Debbie Downer crowd from declaring it the “absolute worst” os release in history, demanding it be pulled and fixed immediately, and wanting to be hand fed instructions for downgrading to System 7 /s. And you can take that to the bank.

howie_isaacks 6 comments · 8 Years

lkrupp said:

With eight or more developer releases and 7 or more public beta releases macOS Sierra bound to be completely stable by Golden Master. But that won’t stop the usual Debbie Downer crowd from declaring it the “absolute worst” os release in history, demanding it be pulled and fixed immediately, and wanting to be hand fed instructions for downgrading to System 7 /s. And you can take that to the bank.

You're totally right. We see this kind of idiot reaction to every major OS upgrade that Apple releases. My favorite part is how they mention some issue they're having that they think everyone else is having, so it must be a bug in the OS. These whiners should stop using Macs if they're going to complain constantly. As long as you back up your Mac, keep your third party software up to date, and keep your system clean and crapware free, you'll be fine. To date, I have only had one upgrade go badly for me. That was Mac OS 8.1. Since then, no issues. Ever.

Addman7100 8 comments · 8 Years

Does anyone know if this version works with Citrix Receiver?

mr squid 58 comments · 16 Years

lkrupp said:

With eight or more developer releases and 7 or more public beta releases macOS Sierra bound to be completely stable by Golden Master. But that won’t stop the usual Debbie Downer crowd from declaring it the “absolute worst” os release in history, demanding it be pulled and fixed immediately, and wanting to be hand fed instructions for downgrading to System 7 /s. And you can take that to the bank.

I find it interesting that even update to OS X seems to be the "absolute worst" OS release in history. There have been some problems with some, such as the WiFi problems with Leopard, but for the most part I have been quite happy with each new release.