Public Beta???

[blizzard]

OK, this is probably really dumb of me, but is a 'public beta' exactly what it sounds like? Apple hands out CDs to anybody that asks for it of the OS X beta? 'Cause that's really unbelievable...has anyone ever done that for an OS before? I've never heard of it. Do you have to be at MacWorld to get a CD? It all seems so...Outer Limits-y. It's gotta be too good to be true. What's the catch here people?

[Cotton]

from the news posts, it sounds like it will be available to anyone who wants it, probably a $20-$30 beta cd in the mail.

-cot

[Spheric Harlot]

Microsoft does this all the time.
They just never release the full version, but supply "service packs" (the one for Windows 2000 is 200MB! large) that must be installed for the purchased beta software to run somewhat properly.
They also sell their betas at full price and don't label them beta versions.

; -]

[Todd Madson]

Be used to do it. In fact, I still have an old copy of MacUser with the PR2 CD bundled into the pages of the magazine. That was a cool gift. Apple will want as many early adopters as possible, they may do unusual things to get people to "try" it.