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why get a developers account? please tell me good and bad points

A

anthony cox

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 16, 2012
11
0
hi, i am interested in getting a developers account but before i do i wanted to know what i was getting myself into
whats the for and against argument? what software/drivers will work with the new mountain lion developers preview?
hope someone can answer my question. Thanks
 
Unless you are actually a developer, don't bother with a developer account. Suppose you only have one computer and you become a developer and a new build wrecks your computer - what do you do now?

Developer accounts are fine if you have multiple systems and are actually a developer and can deal with possible bad builds and driver issues and have multiple backups.

Don't go off thinking that you can just get a developer account and then your Mac will run Mountain Lion and all will be great.
 
thanks for the reply, i have been searching the internet while awaiting a reply, i have read about running os x from an external drive, so if i installed mountain lion onto an external drive and boot from that....then that doesn't effect my computer at all does it? i understand that it may be a little slower due to usb connectivity and that while running mountain lion one or two drivers/software my not work, but when i restart the computer and use the mac built in hard rive to boot from all should return to normal? i assume?
 
anybody know the answer, i will be doing this later using external hard drive, i just want a heads up first incase it does do anything to my mac, i will be doing a time machine back up first just incase though.
 
If you're not a developer leave ML well alone. In fact if you even need to ask the question, leave ML well alone.
 
thanks for the response, i have got hold of a copy of ML so i will be installing on an external hard drive, i appreciate all the advice given which is why i have decided not to install on main hard drive. thanks
 
Just remember its beta software (maybe even alpha) so don't complain when things don't work. You don't sound like a dev so you really shouldn't even be bothering with it.
 
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daneoni said:
Just remember its beta software (maybe even alpha) so don't complain when things don't work. You don't sound like a dev so you really shouldn't even be bothering with it.
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This! ^

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anthony cox said:
thanks for the response, i have got hold of a copy of ML so i will be installing on an external hard drive, i appreciate all the advice given which is why i have decided not to install on main hard drive. thanks
Click to expand...

How have you "got hold of a copy of ML"? This sounds like piracy.
 
anthony cox said:
thanks for the response, i have got hold of a copy of ML so i will be installing on an external hard drive, i appreciate all the advice given which is why i have decided not to install on main hard drive. thanks
Click to expand...

The good thing of having a developer account is that you don't need to get a copy illigally from somewhere. Plus you get updates easily and a huge pile of information about how to program for Mac and /or iOS . If you are not a developer by profession or by heart don't bother. As others mentioned before you have a good chance to run in technical trouble and frustration.
 
anthony cox said:
thanks for the reply, i have been searching the internet while awaiting a reply, i have read about running os x from an external drive, so if i installed mountain lion onto an external drive and boot from that....then that doesn't effect my computer at all does it? i understand that it may be a little slower due to usb connectivity and that while running mountain lion one or two drivers/software my not work, but when i restart the computer and use the mac built in hard rive to boot from all should return to normal? i assume?
Click to expand...
Ya, you'll be fine with this. It's perfectly legal to acquire a developer license from Apple to test the software in your environment and with your applications. Small, Medium and Large businesses to it all the time to learn what parts of their current network will be supported with a new OS upgrade.

I think the posts above that talk about not expecting this to be bug free are very true. Early versions of an OS will always have bugs, issues and missing features. If you don't mind dealing with that to enjoy the latest OS you can certainly do so.

To those that are complaining about the OP's desire to have a copy of Mountain Lion now, I say to you, back off. He's not talking about piracy, he's clearly referring to getting a developers account from Apple which is totally legitimate.
 
No he initially referred to the pros and cons of having a developer account. Now he's "got a hold of a copy" and this to my mind suggests piracy.

He clearly shouldn't be mucking about with pre-release software if he's having to ask these questions.
 
Primus84 said:
No he initially referred to the pros and cons of having a developer account. Now he's "got a hold of a copy" and this to my mind suggests piracy.

He clearly shouldn't be mucking about with pre-release software if he's having to ask these questions.
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Ya, I see what you're saying now. I hope you're wrong, but I don't think so now.
 
no i did get a developers account, i didn't pay for it though a friend did :) he really wants to see what all the fuss about ML is :) so i can't really complain considering i will be booting from an external drive :)

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also once i have had a mess about with it i will more than likely not use itbecause i do not want to install on the main hard drive, and wait until official release.
 
Nice! I want friends like these :)

To answer your original questions, the only bad points I can think of are having to pay 99 bucks, and if people who (unlike you) don't know what they're doing do it and install dev previews over their existing OS, on their only Mac - well, then there's a couple other disadvantages.
 
What do you mean people unlike him - he clearly doesn't know what he's doing and shouldn't be messing around with pre-release software!

Oh and there's no way you buying it is believable given your comments on how you "got hold of a copy"
 
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I'm only here to get peoples advice and i appreciate everyones input, i know i shouldn't be messing with it and to be honest once i have had a little mess around from booting external hard drive, i will not use it, apple has made an easy $99 and me and my friend get to spend a few hours on ML, if anything happens i have backed everything up so WIN WIN
 
Given your questions in this thread I'd not be confident of you managing to install ML without screwing up your current install and I'd not be confident of you having proper backups in place either.

In short, leave well alone!
 
Primus84 said:
Given your questions in this thread I'd not be confident of you managing to install ML without screwing up your current install and I'd not be confident of you having proper backups in place either.

In short, leave well alone!
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Can't you get a dev account and then test it on a virtual machine in VMWare or the like?
 
old-wiz said:
Unless you are actually a developer, don't bother with a developer account. Suppose you only have one computer and you become a developer and a new build wrecks your computer - what do you do now?

Developer accounts are fine if you have multiple systems and are actually a developer and can deal with possible bad builds and driver issues and have multiple backups.

Don't go off thinking that you can just get a developer account and then your Mac will run Mountain Lion and all will be great.
Click to expand...

This

Apple releases these things so we can test our programs before releasing them to see if any issues arise.
 
Primus84 said:
Oh and there's no way you buying it is believable given your comments on how you "got hold of a copy"
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I'm talking about people that don't even research beforehand and find out that you should install it on an external drive, and have backups. Given how easy it is to create proper backups with Time Machine, I don't see why he shouldn't have one - unless you know something I don't and my faith in Time Machine is mistaken?
 
if you don't want to believe me thats up to you. i have the answers to my question thank you
 
anthony cox said:
if you don't want to believe me thats up to you. i have the answers to my question thank you
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I look forward to your future threads with interest! Given your questions on this thread the chances of something going wrong would seem to be high!
 
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