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vbctv

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Sep 25, 2013
840
647
Cleveland, OH
It has now been over 2 weeks since the last beta for macOS Monterey which was beta 5. All the other betas are now on beta 7. I know that usually in the past macOS has been one beta behind it's counterparts but I would have expected a release by now. I have a few theory's but just wanted to gather other's opinions?

My theory is they are either trying to get Universal Control working and can't properly which is delaying the release or plan on taking it out of 12.0 and releasing it later which again is delaying a new beta release. What's other's thoughts on why we are still waiting on beta 6?
 

ivanpasic

macrumors regular
Aug 8, 2013
242
134
I wondered the same thing. I am still hoping for a release this evening. They have certainly released MacOS betas late in the day before.
 

DeltaMac

macrumors G5
Jul 30, 2003
13,488
4,413
Delaware
macOS betas, relatively late in development, might happen quickly (3 or 4 days), or more slowly (more than 2 weeks).
Doesn't mean that nothing is happening, only that Apple decides when new betas are needed.
So, fairly regular releases -- but not always.
And, as fisherking so nicely put it, Apple doesn't share when and why about beta releases.
 

mikecwest

macrumors 65816
Jul 7, 2013
1,188
493
I think some may be worried that they are missing something because of that weird message about the administrator.
 

DeltaMac

macrumors G5
Jul 30, 2003
13,488
4,413
Delaware
I think some may be worried that they are missing something because of that weird message about the administrator.
Just seems an unusual way to express the obvious -- your system is up-to-date
I understood the implication immediately.
I wouldn't refer to that as weird...?
 

Traverse

macrumors 604
Mar 11, 2013
7,698
4,445
Here
Well, macOS releases have been coming out after the related iOS release in the past. So it's entirely possible that they're devoting attention to iOS to get it into a shippable state for the iPhones next month and will catch up macOS for an October release alongside the announcement of new hardware.
 

Wolf1701

macrumors regular
Sep 16, 2006
200
220
Well, macOS releases have been coming out after the related iOS release in the past. So it's entirely possible that they're devoting attention to iOS to get it into a shippable state for the iPhones next month and will catch up macOS for an October release alongside the announcement of new hardware.
Sad but it wouldn't be the first time that they shift 'resources' from macos to ios to deliver it in time.
 

fisherking

macrumors G4
Jul 16, 2010
11,104
5,447
ny somewhere
Sad but it wouldn't be the first time that they shift 'resources' from macos to ios to deliver it in time.
these 'this is what i think, so it must be true' posts are, at least, entertaining.

apple has more than 5 people on staff; they have a separate team for the OSes, so it's nothing like what you suggest.

there is a saying: "thoughts are not facts"; it's a very-good saying.
 

mikecwest

macrumors 65816
Jul 7, 2013
1,188
493
Just seems an unusual way to express the obvious -- your system is up-to-date
I understood the implication immediately.
I wouldn't refer to that as weird...?

You just agreed at the same time you disagreed. It is an "unusual way to express" that makes it weird by definition of the words in the English language. In this case, for the last decades that I can recall, it has never presented the information in this manner.

It sounds as if someone is limiting your ability to choose an upgrade. I also know that isn't the likely the case, unless the bug that presents that is actually more than just a visual bug.


I am also sure you have realized that many users in here are more novice than others, and probably should not using betas. There are others that don't seem to even understand the purpose of beta. I am pretty surer that there are some people that might thing the lack of updates, could just be that they are missing out.

I do recall once, that a developer certificate got "revoked" for some reason, and had to be re-installed, although this was in the days when you had to pay in order to use the betas.
 

Wolf1701

macrumors regular
Sep 16, 2006
200
220
these 'this is what i think, so it must be true' posts are, at least, entertaining.

apple has more than 5 people on staff; they have a separate team for the OSes, so it's nothing like what you suggest.

there is a saying: "thoughts are not facts"; it's a very-good saying.

this is not the first time that you act like The Apple Lawyer, could you just at least TRY to be nice with other people in this forum that you love so much?
 

fisherking

macrumors G4
Jul 16, 2010
11,104
5,447
ny somewhere

this is not the first time that you act like The Apple Lawyer, could you just at least TRY to be nice with other people in this forum that you love so much?
i thought i was, you know... expressing my opinion, the way others... express their opinions.

anyway, i stand by my comments; observant forum ppl will see that i apologize when it's appropriate; this is not one of those moments.
 

Realityck

macrumors G4
Nov 9, 2015
10,339
15,571
Silicon Valley, CA
I think some may be worried that they are missing something because of that weird message about the administrator.
I saw that with both Beta 4 and 5. Sent feedback. I discovered some beta 5 bug created disk corruption (or bogus error) on the data volume when checking it with Disk Utility. I made a snapshot copy using CCC and saw it repeated running first aid, so decided to wipe the data volume, leaving system volume untouched and reinstall.

Surprise . . . I broke it, was asking for administrator password when reinstalling using network system reinstall. But it wouldn't allow me to because i likely removed that info from the data volume.

Anyway tried to get the DFU mode to M1 Mac working using a USB-C ported laptop. I won't work if you try this with TB3 cables, but ordinary USB-C to USB-C will work. Note you need to use specific port on the M1 macs to run DFU. Anyway when back to 11.5.2 baseline then full installer of MacOS12 beta 5. Never asked for the administrator password. So makes you wonder.
 

mikecwest

macrumors 65816
Jul 7, 2013
1,188
493
I saw that with both Beta 4 and 5. Sent feedback. I discovered some beta 5 bug created disk corruption (or bogus error) on the data volume when checking it with Disk Utility. I made a snapshot copy using CCC and saw it repeated running first aid, so decided to wipe the data volume, leaving system volume untouched and reinstall.

Surprise . . . I broke it, was asking for administrator password when reinstalling using network system reinstall. But it wouldn't allow me to because i likely removed that info from the data volume.

Anyway tried to get the DFU mode to M1 Mac working using a USB-C ported laptop. I won't work if you try this with TB3 cables, but ordinary USB-C to USB-C will work. Note you need to use specific port on the M1 macs to run DFU. Anyway when back to 11.5.2 baseline then full installer of MacOS12 beta 5. Never asked for the administrator password. So makes you wonder.
I just let it be, there appears to be no ill effects from it. I’ll see if the next beta clears it up. I won’t worry too much unless I see others getting updates and not me.
 

vbctv

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Sep 25, 2013
840
647
Cleveland, OH
I saw that with both Beta 4 and 5. Sent feedback. I discovered some beta 5 bug created disk corruption (or bogus error) on the data volume when checking it with Disk Utility. I made a snapshot copy using CCC and saw it repeated running first aid, so decided to wipe the data volume, leaving system volume untouched and reinstall.

Surprise . . . I broke it, was asking for administrator password when reinstalling using network system reinstall. But it wouldn't allow me to because i likely removed that info from the data volume.

Anyway tried to get the DFU mode to M1 Mac working using a USB-C ported laptop. I won't work if you try this with TB3 cables, but ordinary USB-C to USB-C will work. Note you need to use specific port on the M1 macs to run DFU. Anyway when back to 11.5.2 baseline then full installer of MacOS12 beta 5. Never asked for the administrator password. So makes you wonder.
It'd be funny (but not really funny) if they messed up the updater and that's why we all see these administrator message on the updater and that's why there's been no update because they can't figure out how to get updates out. Remember that happened on HomePod like 2 years ago and they eventually figured it out after like 3 weeks and were able to get an update pushed to the devices finally.
 
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11235813

macrumors regular
Apr 14, 2021
144
225
Update for update's sake is not good. The quality of the betas have been going down lately. The number of broken things is going up instead of down. I'd rather they skip this cycle and iron things out.
 
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cflem

macrumors 6502
Mar 11, 2011
361
374
Texas
these 'this is what i think, so it must be true' posts are, at least, entertaining.

apple has more than 5 people on staff; they have a separate team for the OSes, so it's nothing like what you suggest.

there is a saying: "thoughts are not facts"; it's a very-good saying.
I think they did exactly that last year though... even said they were...
 
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Realityck

macrumors G4
Nov 9, 2015
10,339
15,571
Silicon Valley, CA
I think they did exactly that last year though... even said they were...
Just a comparison of last years Big Sur progress to this years Monterey. :)
If new products are tied to the OS you will see a lot more betas. Big Sur is particularly a case study as it was the first OS to support M1 Macs specifically.
  • macOS Big Sur beta (20A4299v) - June 22, 2020
  • macOS Big Sur beta 2 (20A4300b) - July 7, 2020
  • macOS Big Sur 11 beta 3 (20A5323l) - July 22, 2020
  • macOS Big Sur 11 beta 4 (20A5343i) - August 4, 2020
  • macOS Big Sur 11 beta 5 (20A5354i) - August 19, 2020
  • macOS Big Sur 11 beta 6 (20A5364e) - September 3, 2020
  • macOS Big Sur 11 beta 7 (20A5374g) - September 17, 2020
  • macOS Big Sur 11 beta 8 (20A5374i) - September 22, 2020
  • macOS Big Sur 11 beta 9 (20A5384c) - September 29, 2020
  • macOS Big Sur 11 beta 10 (20A5395g) - October 14, 2020
  • macOS Big Sur 11.0.1 beta (20B5012d) - October 28, 2020 (that's right no RC yet like iOS/iPadOS)
  • macOS Big Sur 11.0.1 Release Candidate (20B5022a) - November 5, 2020.
  • macOS Big Sur 11.0.1 RC 2 (20B28) - November 10, 2020
  • macOS Big Sur 11.0.1 (20B29) - November 12, 2020
And we are now officially up to macOS Big Sur 11.5.2 (20G95) - August 11, 2021 to show Apple has been on a buzz saw since Big Sur was released.

Comparably Monterey is quite early in its development
  • macOS Monterey beta (21A5248p) - June 7, 2021
  • macOS Monterey beta 2 (21A5268h) - June 28, 2021
  • macOS Monterey beta 3 (21A5284e) - July 14, 2021
  • macOS Monterey beta 4 (21A5294g) - July 27, 2021
  • macOS Monterey beta 5 (21A5304g) - August 11, 2021
 
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vbctv

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Sep 25, 2013
840
647
Cleveland, OH
So that would mean beta 6 is next week?
Looks like macOS Montetey beta is not behind.
It is behind compared to last year. Remember last year the betas launched at end of June because of the delays due to the pandemic. This year they launched at normal beginning of June. So right now in comparison if you push up last years schedule to this years timeframe. We should already be on beta 6 getting ready for beta 7 next week. But we're still on beta 5 for some odd reason. There has only been one August release for the whole month. To me that says there is a problem because that is unlike Apple to not stick to at least a 2 week schedule...
 
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fisherking

macrumors G4
Jul 16, 2010
11,104
5,447
ny somewhere
It is behind compared to last year. Remember last year the betas launched at end of June because of the delays due to the pandemic. This year they launched at normal beginning of June. So right now in comparison if you push up last years schedule to this years timeframe. We should already be on beta 6 getting ready for beta 7 next week. But we're still on beta 5 for some odd reason. There has only been one August release for the whole month. To me that says there is a problem because that is unlike Apple to not stick to at least a 2 week schedule...
that was last year, this is this year. anyway, no one on this forum knows what's going on behind-the-scenes at apple (but we're welcome of course to theorize).

here's mine: it was jim-in-accounting's birthday last week, the whole office got hammered, and so... the beta's running late. that, i would say, makes the most sense. :cool:
 
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