A million users, excluding developers, will be able to access Apple's new operating system in beta. OS X Yosemite will be available to the first million who seek to download it.

Lucky for these users, Apple hasn't ever released a public beta version of OS X (10.10), other than its very first version (10.0) of the software for Mac desktop computers. Now, a million users will get their first taste of the OS in beta, though developers have had access to it as well.

It looks like Apple may be pushing for a new, more open environment, a strategy that Google has had great success with in its own Android OS and other apps and platforms in its repertoire. Apple says the new release in public beta will give users the opportunity to report bugs and other issues to Apple ahead of the OS X Yosemite official release date. Apple released the public beta Thursday, according to reports.

Apple has already been sending out email notifications to users to get the special beta download of OS X Yosemite (10.10). Those emails went out to early registrants. Others can follow a link to the beta site to get to the download. They will need to use their Apple account to login. A redemption code will be provided by Apple on this site, as well as the download link.

Developers pay about $100 to have access to developer tools from Apple and they were allowed a download of Yosemite first. It became available to them on June 2.

The official version will be released to the rest of the general public in the fall, according to another report. Feature updates will become available through the standard Mac updater. Developers and regular users may get these updates at different times, according to the report.

This is the tenth version of the Mac OS X franchise operating system for Mac laptops and desktop computers. The fourth developer preview of Yosemite was released Monday, according to reports.

To run the software, Mac users will need Mavericks 10.9 and about 2 GB of memory. It will also require 8 GB of free space on the hard drive. Other features, such as the iOS related ones, will not be available until fall because that is also when iOS will be released. Testing continues with the Mac OS.

Some suggest installing the beta on a secondary machine or a secondary partition on the machine that will be updated, according to a report. Data loss can be prevented this way. It is also advised to back up the Mac prior to install, or even better, to use a Mac that isn't used for day-to-day business.