I don't think that Apple gets a pass on this. These applications are technical previews only in name (and quality), but they are shipping them in a release to c

I don't think that Apple gets a pass on this. These applications are technical previews only in name (and quality), but they are shipping them in a release to customers. And the real clients of the framework–the developers, don't get much out of them except to manage expectations. Apple could get real "real world feedback" if they have released the actual framework, not stuff made with it. In my opinion apple released them as preview because they have made the apps, wanted to have them in the release, but knew that people would see that they are weird, look into the .app container and see that they are not made using AppKit. I am pretty sure that there are a lot of hardcore Mac users in Apple and any of them would see that these are not good Mac apps.