Mojang starts testing new Minecraft launcher, only for Windows and Mac

The updated Minecraft launcher has been around for a while now, offering numerous advantages over the classic launcher like multiple game profiles and auto-updating. However Mojang is taking it to the next level in 2015 with what could probably be described as the second major version of the launcher.

Today Nathan Adams, one of the major Minecraft developers if you aren't in the loop, posted about the new launcher on Reddit. Here's a snipped of the original post:

We're going to be rolling out a new launcher* soon, and I'd like to get your help getting some general testing first! Technically it's not a whole new launcher, it's just a native wrapping around what we have now. The ugly white loading screen at the start has gone, users no longer need to have Java installed (we'll maintain our own version of Java which we'll keep up to date and correct for your OS), and it should handle a whole bunch of failcases much better than before.

So in other words, Minecraft will still use Java but the game will ship with it's own copy, eliminating compatibility issues with any pre-installed copies of Java. Mac OS X is known for having this problem especially - it's common for Mac users to have both Apple's Java 6 and Oracle's Java 7/8 installed at once. Coming from a previous Mac user, it's quite a pain to manage. Adams went on to say:

We will be creating this for both Windows and OSX, but we only have the Windows one for testing right now. We hope to get the OSX one for testing very early next year, which again will remove lots of current issues OSX users have getting the game (wrong java or no java). You'll notice I haven't said linux... we may or may not make a native one for linux later, we're just not sure if they need it. We're not dropping support for linux or anything crazy like that, they will still play fine as they do now.'

Now before everyone goes all "MICROSOFT IS RUNING MINECRAFT BY REMOVING LINUX SUPPORT," remember that the percentage of Minecraft users on Windows and Mac greatly outnumbers Linux users. However, the launcher would likely benefit Linux users with it's pre-included copy - most Linux distributions are split between using Oracle's official Java and OpenJDK. And both of which are known to have minor bugs with Minecraft, mind you.

If you want to try out the launcher for yourself, you can get it at the source link below. Be warned - your computer may explode and it's only for Windows right now (and it's not clear if it will get auto-updates like the current launcher).

Source: Reddit