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created 30 Aug. 2000

The Mac OS X Public Beta

So, with the announcement that the public beta of OSX is available on September 13th, Mac network administrators are going to be thrown into the same swamp that Windows and other platform administrators have had to deal with for a while now...how to handle users with a public beta of an OS.

The most conservative reaction is to ban it completely. While safe, I think this would be a mistake. OSX is going to be a part of your life, whether public beta or golden release. The beta is a perfect chance to not only do network level tests, and compatibility testing yourself, but to also get firsthand experience with users issues that will crop up.

I am going to go the route of finding a smallish number of Mac users, with the knowledge and need for OSX. The reason for this is simple. No matter how long I test something, my tests are going to be biased by my needs and uses of the system. I don't use my PowerBook the same way one of our VPs uses theirs. I won't do the same things they will. They will find different bugs, or issues than I would.

So how does this help?

Well, for one, it gives you far more opportunity to see how OSX is going to change things in your environment. It will also let you know what kind of user training will be required to make the transition to the new OS as painless as possible. If you manage to include a power user or two, you will also get the joy, or pain, of seeing how various programs and system modifications work, or do not work. You'll also have the best kind of test data for any sort of infrastructure changes that OSX may require...first hand.

You'll also find out exactly what you have to do to sell the upgrade to the people in charge at your company.

Don't underestimate the effect that a good sales strategy will have here. I was able to sell the upgrade to OS 8.5 and later 9.0 based more on our being able to easily view Chinese web sites correctly without reconfiguring the browser than any other feature. Why? Because we do a lot of business with Hong Kong, and other Asian countries. Finding a feature that makes your business run easier is always a big hit for any software, especially an OS.

But how do you go about keeping people from just installing a beta en masse?

Well, first of all, don't try to hide its existence. You won't be able to anyway, and you'll just look foolish. Instead, send an email to your Mac users, telling them about the beta, and that you'd like to set up a small group to evaluate it for your company. Have a clear list that has feedback requirements, and large, nasty warnings that a beta OS, even a stable one, can do bad things to your programs and data. Make sure they understand that bad means 'gone forever' in the worst case.

That should weed out the more casual users. Once you have gotten enough feedback, then inform them that since this is a beta, again, they need to be willing to commit to regular meetings, and other feedback on bugs or errors they have noticed. Make sure they understand that this will take a few hours a week from other things, as they will be spending a lot more time dealing with the OS than they are used to.

This should weed out a few more folks, and help you get the group to a manageable size. Now, you have your small, elite, group of people ready to do a dangerous thing. Play that up. These folks are not normally used to doing beta tests of the OS, so make them feel like they are doing a dangerous thing that is also very cool. Set up a custom email address for the group with a cool name, (think along the lines of the X-Men if you can't come up with something else). I'm not saying go buy t-shirts and buttons, although if you want to, by all means, go ahead.

What I am saying is make this new OS be something so cool that everyone wants a piece of it. Make it the news of the IT department. As time goes by, and bugs are fixed, add more people to the group, with different levels of expertise and experience.

In the end, you will gain far more than just the headaches of sheparding a beta program. You'll have live, firsthand knowledge of what you need to do as an administrator to get your company ready for OSX. You'll have months of experience dealing with the networking and communications changes that OSX brings. You'll also have a group of OSX 'power users', who will, in their own way, have as much knowledge about the OS as you do. So you'll have an extra layer of user support, without the budget. You'll have months to fix any in-house software that OSX breaks. You'll have avoided the agony of random users installing OSX, and then screaming at you for letting them do that. You'll know what works, and what doesn't, and you'll know this because you'll have seen it firsthand.

And with a little luck, you'll look like the visionary that you already knew you were, and your users will see you, and themselves the same way.

And won't that be handy when it comes time to upgrade your Macs?

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