 | |
 Screenshot ofMac OS 9 | |
| Developer | Apple Computer |
|---|---|
| OS family | Macintosh |
| Working state | Historic, not supported |
| Source model | Closed source |
| Initial release | January 24, 1984; 41 years ago (1984-01-24)[1][2] |
| Final release | 9.2.2 / December 5, 2001; 23 years ago (2001-12-05)[3] |
| Marketing target | Personal computing |
| Platforms | |
| Kernel type | Monolithic for 68k,nanokernel for PowerPC |
| Default user interface | Graphical |
| License | Commercial software,proprietary software |
| Succeeded by | Mac OS X |
| Support status | |
| Historical, unsupported as of February 1, 2002 | |
Mac OS (originallySystem Software;retronym:Classic Mac OS[a]) is the series ofoperating systems developed for theMacintosh family ofpersonal computers byApple Computer, Inc. from 1984 to 2001, starting withSystem 1 and ending withMac OS 9. The Macintosh operating system is credited with having popularized thegraphical user interface concept.[4] It was included with every Macintosh that was sold during the era in which it was developed, and many updates to the system software were done in conjunction with the introduction of new Macintosh systems.
Apple released theoriginal Macintosh on January 24, 1984. Thefirst version of the system software, which had no official name, was partially based on theLisa OS, which Apple previously released for theLisa computer in 1983. As part of an agreement allowingXerox to buyshares in Apple at a favorable price, it also used concepts from theXerox PARCAlto computer, which former Apple CEOSteve Jobs and other Lisa team members had previewed.[1] This operating system consisted of theMacintosh ToolboxROM and the "System Folder", a set of files that were loaded from disk. The nameMacintosh System Software came into use in 1987 with System 5. Apple rebranded the system asMac OS in 1996, starting officially with version 7.6, due in part to itsMacintosh clone program.[5] That program ended after the release ofMac OS 8 in 1997.[6] The last major release of the system was Mac OS 9 in 1999.[7]
Initial versions of the System Software ran one application at a time. With theMacintosh 512K, a system extension called theSwitcher was developed to use this additional memory to allow multiple programs to remain loaded. The software of each loaded program used the memory exclusively; only when activated by the Switcher did the program appear, even the Finder's desktop. With the Switcher, the now familiar Clipboard feature allowed copy and paste between the loaded programs across switches including the desktop.
With the introduction of System 5, acooperative multitasking extension calledMultiFinder was added, which allowed content in windows of each program to remain in a layered view over the desktop, and was later integrated into System 7 as part of the operating system along with support forvirtual memory. By the mid-1990s, however, contemporary operating systems such asWindows NT,OS/2,NeXTSTEP,BSD, andLinux had all broughtpre-emptive multitasking,protected memory,access controls, and multi-user capabilities to desktop computers. The Macintosh's limitedmemory management and susceptibility to conflicts amongextensions that provide additional functionality, such as networking or support for a particular device,[8] led to significant criticism of the operating system, and was a factor in Apple's declining market share at the time.
After two aborted attempts at creating a successor to the Macintosh System Software calledTaligent andCopland, and afour-year development effort spearheaded bySteve Jobs's return to Apple in 1997, Apple replaced Mac OS with a new operating system in 2001 namedMac OS X. It retained most of the user interface design elements of the Classic Mac OS, and there was some overlap ofapplication frameworks for compatibility, but the two operating systems otherwise have completely different origins and architectures.[citation needed]
Thefinal updates to Mac OS 9 released in 2001 provided interoperability with Mac OS X. The name "Classic" that now signifies the historical Mac OS as a whole is a reference to theClassic Environment, acompatibility layer that helped ease the transition to Mac OS X (now macOS).[9]
The Macintosh project started in late 1978 withJef Raskin, who envisioned an easy-to-use, low-cost computer for the average consumer. In September 1979, Raskin began looking for an engineer who could put together a prototype.Bill Atkinson, a member of theApple Lisa team, introduced Raskin toBurrell Smith, a service technician who had been hired earlier that year.
Apple's concept for the Macintosh deliberately sought to minimize the user's awareness of the operating system. Many basic tasks that required more operating system knowledge on other systems could be accomplished by mouse gestures and graphic controls on a Macintosh. This would differentiate it from its contemporaries such asMS-DOS, which use acommand-line interface consisting of terse, abbreviated textual commands.
In January 1981,Steve Jobs completely took over the Macintosh project. Jobs and a number of Apple engineers visited Xerox PARC in December 1979, three months after the Lisa and Macintosh projects had begun. After hearing about the pioneeringGUI technology being developed atXerox PARC from former Xerox employees like Raskin, Jobs negotiated a visit to see theXerox Alto computer andSmalltalk development tools in exchange for Apple stock options.[10] The final Lisa and Macintosh operating systems use concepts from the Xerox Alto, but many elements of the graphical user interface were created by Apple including the menu bar, pull-down menus, and the concepts ofdrag and drop anddirect manipulation.[11]
Unlike theIBM PC, which uses 8 kB of systemROM forpower-on self-test (POST) and basic input/output system (BIOS), the Mac ROM is significantly larger (64 kB) and holds key OS code. Much of the original Mac ROM code was written byAndy Hertzfeld, a member of the original Macintosh team. He was able to conserve precious ROM space by writing routines inassembly language code optimized with "hacks", or clever programming tricks.[12] In addition to the ROM, he also coded thekernel, theMacintosh Toolbox, and some of thedesktop accessories (DAs). Theicons of the operating system, which representfolders andapplication software, were designed bySusan Kare, who later designed the icons forMicrosoft Windows 3.0.Bruce Horn andSteve Capps wrote theMacintosh Finder, as well as a number of Macintosh system utilities.
Apple aggressively advertised their new machine. After its release, the company bought all 39 pages of advertisement space in the 1984 November/December edition ofNewsweek magazine. The Macintosh quickly outsold its more sophisticated but much more expensive predecessor, theLisa. Apple quickly developedMacWorks, a product that allowed the Lisa to emulate Macintosh system software through System 3, by which time it had been discontinued as the rebrandedMacintosh XL. Many of the Lisa's operating system advances would not appear in the Macintosh operating system untilSystem 7 or later.
Early versions of Mac OS are compatible only withMotorola 68000-family Macintoshes. As Apple introduced computers withPowerPC hardware, the OS was ported to support this architecture. Mac OS 8.1 is the last version that could run on a 68k processor (the68040).
In systems prior toPowerPC G3-based systems, significant parts of the system are stored in physicalROM on the motherboard. The initial purpose of this is to avoid having the OS use up most of the 128KiB RAM of the initial Macintosh—the initial ROMs were 64KiB. This architecture also allows for a completely graphical OS interface at the lowest level without the need for a text-only console or command-line mode: boot time errors, such as finding no functioning disk drives, are communicated to the user graphically, usually with an icon or the distinctiveChicago bitmap font and aChime of Death or a series of beeps. This is in contrast toMS-DOS andCP/M computers of the time, which display such messages in a mono-spaced font on a black background, and require the use of the keyboard rather than a mouse, for input. To provide such niceties at a low level, early Mac OS depends on core system software inROM on the motherboard, which also ensured that only Apple computers or licensed clones (with the copyright-protected ROMs from Apple) can run Mac OS.
Several computer manufacturers over the years madeMacintosh clones that were capable of running Mac OS. From 1995 to 1997, Apple licensed Macintosh ROMs to several companies, notablyPower Computing,UMAX andMotorola. These machines normally ran various versions of Classic Mac OS.Steve Jobs ended the clone-licensing program after returning to Apple in 1997.
Support for Macintosh clones was first exhibited in System 7.5.1, which was the first version to include the "Mac OS" logo (a variation on the originalHappy Mac startup icon), and Mac OS 7.6 was the first to be named "Mac OS" instead of "System". These changes were made to disassociate the operating system from Apple's own Macintosh models.[13]
The Macintosh originally used theMacintosh File System (MFS), aflat file system with only one level of folders. This was quickly replaced in 1985 by theHierarchical File System (HFS), which had a truedirectory tree. Both file systems are otherwise compatible. An improved file system namedHFS Plus ("HFS+" or "Mac OS Extended") was announced in 1997 and implemented in 1998.[14]
Files in most file systems used withDOS,Windows,Unix, or other operating systems have only one "fork". By contrast, MFS and HFS give files two different "forks". The data fork contains the same sort of information as a file in other file systems, such as the text of a document or the bitmaps of an image file. Theresource fork contains other structured data such as menu definitions, graphics, sounds, or code segments that would be incorporated into a program'sfile format on other systems. Anexecutable file might consist only of resources (includingcode segments) with an empty data fork, while adata file might have only a data fork with no resource fork. Aword processor file could contain its text in the data fork and styling information in the resource fork so that an application that does not recognize the styling information can still read the raw text.
On the other hand, these forks would challengeinteroperability with different operating systems. In copying or transferring a Mac OS file to a non-Mac system, the default implementations would strip the file of its resource fork. Mostdata files contained only nonessential information in their resource fork, such as window size and location, but program files would be inoperative without their resources. This necessitated such encoding schemes asBinHex andMacBinary, which allowed a user to encode a dual-forked file into a single stream, or inversely take a single stream so-encoded and reconstitute it into a dual-forked file usable by Mac OS.
 | This sectionneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.(October 2019) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
As part of Apple's goal of creating a computer with appliance-like simplicity, there is no explicit distinction made between the operating system software and the hardware it runs on. Because of this, early versions of the operating system do not have a distinct name. The software consists of two user-visible files: the System file, and theFinder, anapplication used for file management that also displays theDesktop. The two files are contained in a folder directory labeled "System Folder", which contains other resource files, like aprinter driver, needed to interact with the System.[5] Version numbers of the operating system are based on the version numbers of these two files.
These releases can only run one application at a time, except for desk accessories, though special application shells such asMulti-Mac[16] orSwitcher (discussed underMultiFinder) could work around this. Visible changes are best reflected in the version number of theFinder, where major leaps are found between 1.x, 4.x, 5.x, and 6.x.
In the late 1990s, Apple retroactively gave these older releases a single name.
| System Software Release[5] | System Version[5] | Release Date[5] | Finder Version[5] | LaserWriter Version[5] | Release Information[5] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Macintosh System Software | 1.0 (.97)[17] | January 24, 1984[1][2] | 1.0 | Initial Release | |
| Macintosh System Software (0.1) | 1.1 | May 1984[1] | 1.1g | Maintenance Release, Added Mountain scene, About box, Clean Up Command | |
| Macintosh System Software (0.3 & 0.5) | 2.0 | April 1985[18] | 4.1 | Finder Update: Introduced "New Folder" and "Shut Down" commands, and installation of a "MiniFinder" application for quickly launching any of the chosen applications System: Introduced screenshots using⌘ Command+⇧ Shift+3 | |
| Macintosh System Software[17][19] | 2.1[17] | September 1985[17] | 5.0[19] | Release forHard Disk 20 support[17][19] | |
| Macintosh System Software (0.7) | 3.0 | January 1986[1] | 5.1 | 1.1[citation needed] | Introduced withMacintosh Plus[1] |
| System Software 1.0 | 3.1 | February 1986[1] | 5.2 | 1.1 | |
| System Software 1.1 | 3.2 | June 1986[20] | 5.3 | 3.1 | Fixed problems with data loss, system crashes; updated Chooser and Calculator.[20] |
| AppleShare 1.0 | 3.3 | January 1987 | 5.4 | AppleShare 1.0 Work Station Installer disk (for the Macintosh 512K) | |
| AppleShare 1.1[21] | 3.3[21] | 1987 | 5.5[21] | AppleShare 1.1 Work Station Installer disk (for the Macintosh 512K)[21] | |
| AppleShare 2.0[21] | 3.4[21] | 1988 | 6.1[21] | AppleShare 2.0Macintosh 512Ke Work Station Installer disk[21] | |
| System Software 2.0 | 4.0 | January 1987[1] | 5.4 | 3.3 | Release forMacintosh SE. IntroducedAppleShare[citation needed] |
| System Software 2.0.1 | 4.1 | March 2, 1987 | 5.5 | 4.0 | Release forMacintosh II. Updated LaserWriter Driver |
Towards the end of 1987, Apple introduced a package titled "Apple Macintosh System Software Update 5.0".[22] For the first time, the Macintosh operating system was offered as a distinct retail product that included four 800K disks and three manuals, at a cost of US$49. The software itself was still freely available through user groups and bulletin board services. While the product box presented this update to the operating system as "version 5.0", this number does not appear in the software itself. Three of the four disks (System Tools 1, System Tools 2 and Utilities 1) are all bootable, and the user can boot off whichever floppy contains the tools the user needs. For instance, System Tools 2 is the only disk with printer drivers, and Utilities 1 is the only disk withDisk First Aid andApple HD SC Setup. Because the disks are named System Tools, users and the press commonly referred to this version as "System Tools 5.0".
The primary new feature of System 5 isMultiFinder, an extension that lets the system run several programs at once. The system uses acooperative multitasking model, meaning that time is given to the background applications only when the foreground application yields control. A change in system functions that applications were already calling to handle events make many existing applications share time automatically, as well as being allowed to perform tasks in the background.[22] Users can also choose not to use MultiFinder, thereby using a single application at a time. In 1990InfoWorld tested four multitasking options for PC and Mac, viewing MultiFinder positively overall, but noting that its presence halved the speed of file transfer and printing compared to the single-tasking System 6 without MultiFinder.[23]
| System Software Release[5] | Release Date[5] | System Version[5] | Software Version[5] | Release Information[5] | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Finder | MultiFinder | LaserWriter | ||||
| 5.0 | October 1987[24] | 4.2 | 6.0 | 1.0 | 5.0 | Initial Release |
| 5.1 | November 1987 | 4.3 | 5.1 | Updated LaserWriter Driver and new version of Apple HD SC Setup | ||
System Software 6 (also referred to as "System 6") is a consolidation release of the Macintosh system software, producing a complete, stable, and long-lasting operating system. Two major hardware introductions requiring additional support under System 6 are the68030 processor and 1.44 MBSuperDrive debuting with theMacintosh IIx andMacintosh SE/30. Later updates include support for the first specialized laptop features with the introduction of theMacintosh Portable. From System 6 forward, the Finder has a unified version number closely matching that of the System, alleviating much of the confusion caused by the often considerable differences between earlier Systems.[25]
| System Version[5] | Release Date[5] | Software Version[5] | Release Information[5] | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Finder | MultiFinder | LaserWriter | |||
| 6.0 | April 1988 | 6.1 | 6.0 | 5.2 | Initial Release |
| 6.0.1 | September 19, 1988 | 6.1.1 | 6.0.1 | Release forMacintosh IIx (1988) | |
| 6.0.2 | Late 1988 | 6.1 | Maintenance Release | ||
| 6.0.3 | March 7, 1989 | 6.0.3 | Release forMacintosh IIcx (1989) | ||
| 6.0.4 | September 20, 1989 | 6.1.4 | 6.0.4 | Release forMacintosh Portable andIIci (1989) | |
| 6.0.5 | March 19, 1990[26] | 6.1.5 | 6.0.5 | Release forMacintosh IIfx (1990) | |
| 6.0.6 | October 15, 1990 | 6.1.6 | 6.0.6 | Not released because ofAppleTalk bug[27] | |
| 6.0.7 | October 16, 1990 | 6.1.7 | 6.0.7 | Official release forMacintosh LC,IIsi andClassic (1990) | |
| 6.0.8 | May 13, 1991 | 6.1.8 | 6.0.8 | 7.0 | Updated printing software to match software ofSystem 7.0 |
| 6.0.8L | March 23, 1992 | Limited maintenance release for Pacific customers | |||
On May 13, 1991, System 7 was released. It was a major upgrade over System 6, adding a significantuser interface overhaul, new applications, stability improvements and many new features. Its introduction coincides with the release of and provided support for the68040Macintosh line. The System 7 era saw numerous changes in the Macintosh platform includinga proliferation of Macintosh models, the 68k toPower Macintosh transition as well as the rise ofMicrosoft Windows, increasing use ofcomputer networking and the explosion in the popularity of theInternet.
One of the most significant features of System 7 isvirtual memory support, an essential subsystem anticipated for years, which only exists for previous Systems in a third party extension named Virtual fromConnectix.[23] Accompanying this was a move to32-bitmemory addressing, necessary for the ever-increasing amounts of RAM available to the Motorola 68030 CPU, and 68020 CPUs with a68851PMMU. This process involves making all of the routines in OS code use the full 32-bits of a pointer as an address—prior systems used the upper 8 bits asflags. This change is known as being "32-bit clean". While System 7 itself is 32-bit clean, many existing machines and thousands of applications were not, so it was some time before the process was completed. To ease the transition, the "Memory" control panel contains a switch to disable this feature, allowing for compatibility with older applications.
Another notable System 7 feature is built-incooperative multitasking. In System Software 6, this function was optional through theMultiFinder. System 7 also introducedaliases, similar tosymbolic links onUnix,shortcuts that were introduced in later versions of Microsoft Windows, andshadows in IBMOS/2.System extensions were enhanced by being moved to their own subfolder; a subfolder in theSystem Folder was also created for thecontrol panels. In System 7.5, Apple includes theExtensions Manager, a previously third-party program which simplified the process of enabling and disabling extensions.
The Apple menu, home only to desk accessories in System 6, was made more general-purpose: the user could now make often-used folders and applications—or anything else they desired—appear in the menu by placing aliases to them in an "Apple Menu Items" subfolder of the System Folder. System 7 also introduced the following:AppleScript, ascripting language for automating tasks;32-bitQuickDraw, supporting so-called "true color" imaging, previously available as a system extension; andTrueType, anoutline font standard.
The Trash, under System 6 and earlier, empties itself automatically when shutting down the computer—or, if MultiFinder is not running, when launching an application. System 7 reimplements the Trash as a special hidden folder, allowing files to remain in it across reboots until the user deliberately chose the "Empty Trash" command.
System 7.1 is mainly a bugfix release, with a few minor features added. One of the major new features of System 7.1 was moving fonts out of the System file into the Fonts folder in the System Folder. Previously a resource-copying utility such as ResEdit or Font D/A Mover was required for installing fonts. System 7.1 is not only the first Macintosh operating system to cost money (all previous versions were free or sold at the cost of the floppies), but also received a "Pro" sibling (version 7.1.1) with extra features. System 7.1.2 was the first version to support PowerPC-based Macs. System 7.1 also introduces the System Enablers as a method to support new models without updating the actual System file. This leads to extra files inside the system folder (one per new model supported).
System 7.5 introduces a large number of new features, many of which are based on shareware applications that Apple bought and included into the new system.[28] On the newer PowerPC machines, System 7.5 may have stability problems partly due to a new memory manager (which can be turned off),[citation needed] and issues with the handling of errors in the PowerPC code (all PowerPC exceptions map to Type 11). These issues do not affect 68k-architecture machines. System 7.5 is contemporary with Apple's failedCopland effort as well as the release ofWindows 95.
Stability improved in PowerPC-based Macs with Mac OS 7.6, which dropped the "System" moniker as a more trademarkable name was needed in order to license the OS to the growing market of third-partyMacintosh clone manufacturers. Mac OS 7.6 required 32-bit-clean ROMs, and so it dropped support for every Mac with a68000 processor, as well as theMac II,Mac IIx,Mac IIcx, andMac SE/30.
| System Version[5] | Release Information[5] |
|---|---|
| System 7.0 | integrated MultiFinder always enabled |
| System 7.0.1 | introduced withLC II andQuadra series |
| System 7.0.1P | |
| System 7 Tuner | update for both 7.0 and 7.0.1 |
| System 7.1 | introduced the Fonts folder |
| System 7.1P | |
| System 7.1P1 | |
| System 7.1P2 | |
| System 7.1P3 | last "P" release with new features |
| System 7.1P4 | |
| System 7.1P5 | |
| System 7.1P6 | |
| System 7.1 Pro | version 7.1.1, combined withPowerTalk, Speech Manager,MacInTalk, Thread Manager |
| System 7.1.2 | Macs equipped with a PowerPC processor |
| System 7.1.2P | only for Performa/LC/Quadra 630 series, very quickly replaced by 7.5 |
| System 7.5 | |
| System 7.5.1 | System 7.5 Update 1.0—the first Macintosh operating system to call itself "Mac OS" |
| System 7.5.2 | Power Macs that usePCI, usable only on these Power Macs and PowerBooks5300,190, andDuo 2300 |
| System 7.5.3 | System 7.5 Update 2.0 |
| System 7.5.3L | only for Macintosh clones |
| System 7.5.3 Revision 2 | |
| System 7.5.3 Revision 2.1 | only for Performa 6400/180 and 6400/200 |
| System 7.5.4 | withdrawn within hours of release and replaced by 7.5.5 |
| System 7.5.5 | last to support non-32-bit-clean Macs, including all with less than a68030 CPU except the Macintosh LC |
| Mac OS 7.6 | name formally changed because of the experimentalclone program, although System 7.5.1 and later used the "Mac OS" name on thesplash screen |
| Mac OS 7.6.1 | proper PowerPC error handling introduced |
Mac OS 8 was released on July 26, 1997, the same monthSteve Jobs became thede facto CEO of Apple. It was mainly released to keep the Mac OS moving forward during a difficult time for Apple. Initially planned as Mac OS 7.7, it was renumbered "8" to exploit a legalloophole and accomplish Jobs's goal of terminating third-party manufacturers' licenses to System 7 and shutting down theMacintosh clone market.[29]
Mac OS 8 added a number of features from the abandonedCopland project, while leaving the underlying operating system unchanged. Amulti-threaded Finder was included; files could now be copied in the background. The GUI was changed in appearance to a new shaded greyscale look namedPlatinum, and the ability to change the appearance themes (also known asskins) was added with a new control panel (though Platinum was the only one shipped). This capability was provided by a new "appearance" API layer within the OS, one of the few significant changes.
Apple sold 1.2 million copies of Mac OS 8 in its first two weeks of availability and 3 million within six months. In light of Apple's financial difficulties at the time, there was a large grassroots movement among Mac users to upgrade and "help save Apple". Even some pirate groups refused to redistribute the OS.[30]
Mac OS 8.1 introduced an updated version of theHierarchical File System namedHFS+, which fixed many of the limitations of the earlier system and continued to be used inmacOS up untilmacOS High Sierra, when it was replaced with theApple File System. There are some other interface changes such as separating network features from printing, and some improvements to application switching. However, in underlying technical respects, Mac OS 8 is not very different from System 7.
Mac OS 8.5 focuses on speed and stability, with most 68k code replaced by modern code native to the PowerPC. It also improved the appearance of the user interface, although the theming feature was cut late in development.
| System Version[5] | Release Information[5] |
|---|---|
| Mac OS 8.0 | first version to require a68040 processor, dropping support for the remainder of theMacintosh II series and other68030 Macs. It also added support for thePowerPC G3 processor |
| Mac OS 8.1 | last Mac OS release to run on a68k processor, and it added support forUSB on theiMac and added support for theHFS+ filesystem, also called Mac OS Extended |
| Mac OS 8.5 | first version to run solely on aPowerPC processor, and it added built-in support forFireWire. It also addedSherlock and added support for thePower Macintosh G3 |
| Mac OS 8.5.1 | added bug fixes to lessen system crashes |
| Mac OS 8.6 | included a newnanokernel for improved performance andMultiprocessing Services 2.0 support, improved PowerBook battery life, and added support for thePowerPC G4 processor |
Mac OS 9, the last major revision of the Classic Mac OS, was released on October 23, 1999.[7] It is generally a steady evolution from Mac OS 8. Early development releases of Mac OS 9 were numbered 8.7.
Mac OS 9 added improved support forAirPortwireless networking. It introduced an early implementation of multi-user support. Though not a true multi-user operating system, Mac OS 9 does allow multiple desktop users to have their own data and system settings. An improvedSherlock search engine added several new search plug-ins. Mac OS 9 also provides a much improved memory implementation and management.AppleScript was improved to allowTCP/IP and networking control. Mac OS 9 also makes the first use of the centralizedApple Software Update to find and install OS and hardware updates.
Other new features included its on-the-flyfile encryption software withcode signing andKeychain technologies, Remote Networking andFile Server packages, and much improved list ofUSBdrivers.
Mac OS 9 also added some transitional technologies to help application developers adopt someMac OS X features before the introduction of the new OS to the public, to help ease the transition. These included new APIs for thefile system and the bundling of theCarbon library that apps could link against instead of the traditional API libraries—apps that were adapted to do this could be run natively on Mac OS X as well. Other changes were made beginning with the Mac OS 9.1 update to allow it to be launched in theClassic Environment within Mac OS X.
The final update to the Classic Mac OS was version 9.2.2, released on December 5, 2001.[31]
| System Version[5] | Release Information[5] |
|---|---|
| Mac OS 9.0 | initial retail version of Mac OS 9 |
| Mac OS 9.0.2 | |
| Mac OS 9.0.3 | |
| Mac OS 9.0.4 | |
| Mac OS 9.1 | included withMac OS X 10.0 |
| Mac OS 9.2 | update for improvedMac OS X compatibility |
| Mac OS 9.2.1 | |
| Mac OS 9.2.2 | final release of Classic Mac OS |
macOS (originally "Mac OS X" and then "OS X")[32] is Apple's current Mac operating system that officially succeeded the Classic Mac OS in 2001. Although it was originally marketed as simply "version 10" of Mac OS, it hasa history that is largely independent of the earlier Mac OS releases.
The macOS architectural legacy is the successor toMac OS 9 and the Classic Mac OS legacy. However, unlike the Classic Mac OS, it is aUnix-based operating system[33] built onNeXTSTEP and technology developed atNeXT from the late 1980s until early 1997, when Apple purchased the company, and its CEOSteve Jobs returned to Apple.[34] macOS also makes use of theBSD codebase and theXNU kernel,[35] and its core set of components is based upon Apple'sopen sourceDarwin operating system.
An early version of the operating system,Mac OS X Server 1.0, was released in 1999. It retains the "Platinum" appearance from the Classic Mac OS and even resemblesOPENSTEP in places, with the first version to arrive with the newAqua user interface. The first consumer version,Mac OS X 10.0, was released on March 24, 2001, supporting the newAqua user interface. Mac OS X was renamed "OS X" in 2011 and "macOS" in 2016.
Users of the Classic Mac OS generally upgraded to Mac OS X, but it was criticized in its early years as more difficult and less user-friendly than the original Mac OS, for the lack of certain features that had not yet been reimplemented in the new OS, for being slower on the same hardware (especially older hardware), and for incompatibilities with the older OS.[36] Because drivers (for printers, scanners, tablets, etc.) written for the older Mac OS were not compatible with Mac OS X, inconsistent program support with the Classic Environment program used to run the older operating system's programs on Mac OS X, and the lack of Mac OS X support for older Apple computers before late 1997; some Macintosh users continued using the older Classic Mac OS for a few years after the original release of Mac OS X.Steve Jobs encouraged people to upgrade to Mac OS X by staging a mockfuneral for Mac OS 9 atWWDC 2002.[37]
PowerPC versions of Mac OS X up to and includingMac OS X 10.4 Tiger include acompatibility layer for running older Mac applications, the Classic Environment. Originally codenamed the "blue box", the environment runs a nearly complete Mac OS 9 operating system, version 9.1 or later, as a Mac OS X application. This allows applications that have not been ported to theCarbon API to run on Mac OS X. This is reasonably seamless, though "classic" applications retain their original Mac OS 9 appearance and do not gain the Mac OS X "Aqua" appearance.
EarlyNew World ROM PowerPC-based Macs shipped with Mac OS 9.2 as well as Mac OS X. Mac OS 9.2 had to be installed by the user—it was not installed by default on hardware revisions released after Mac OS X 10.4. Most well-written "classic" Mac OS applications function properly under this environment, but compatibility is assured only if the software was written to be unaware of the actual hardware and to interact solely with the operating system. The Classic Environment is not available onIntel-based Mac systems or the latestApple silicon Macs due to the incompatibility ofMac OS 9 with both thex86 andARM hardware.
Third-party Macintoshemulators, such asvMac,Basilisk II, andExecutor, eventually made it possible to run the Classic Mac OS onIntel-based PCs. These emulators were restricted to emulating the68k series of processors, and as such most could not run versions of the Mac OS that succeeded 8.1, which requiredPowerPC processors. Most also required a Mac ROM image or a hardware interface supporting a real Mac ROM chip; those requiring an image are of dubious legal standing as the ROM image may infringe on Apple's intellectual property.
A notable exception was theExecutor commercial software product from Abacus Research & Development, the only product that used 100% reverse-engineered code without the use of Apple technology. It ran extremely quickly but never achieved more than a minor subset of functionality. Few programs were completely compatible and many were extremely crash-prone if they ran at all. Executor filled a niche market for porting 68k Mac applications tox86 platforms; development ceased in 2002 and the source code was released by the author in late 2008.[38] Emulators using Mac ROM images offered near complete Mac OS compatibility, and later versions offered excellent performance as modern x86 processor performance increased exponentially.
Apple included its ownMac 68k emulator that ran seamlessly on all PowerPC-based versions of the Classic Mac OS.[39] Apple also sold a Mac 68k emulator forSPARC-based (Solaris) andPA-RISC based (HP-UX) systems calledMacintosh Application Environment (MAE), which could run variants of System 7.x inside anX11 window.
As of 2021 the most capablePowerPC emulator isQEMU[40]In comparison with 68k-emulator development,PowerPC emulation is more complex and requires more CPU power. The emulator is capable of running Classic Mac OS and OS X at full speed with networking and sound in most cases.[41] QEMU has official support for Classic Mac OS version 9.0 through 9.2 and Mac OS X 10.0 up to and including 10.5.[42] QEMU has several advantages over other PowerPC emulators namely supporting a wide range of platforms from Linux to Mac and Windows on current CPU architectures.[42]
Another PowerPC emulator isSheepShaver, which has been around since 1998 forBeOS on the PowerPC platform, but in 2002 wasopen-sourced, and efforts began to port it to other platforms. Originally it was not designed for use on x86 platforms and required an actual PowerPC processor present in the machine it was running on similar to ahypervisor. Although it provides PowerPC processor support, it can run only up toMac OS 9.0.4 because it does not emulate amemory management unit.
Other examples include ShapeShifter (by the same developer that createdSheepShaver), Fusion, PearPC and iFusion. The latter ran Classic Mac OS with a PowerPC "coprocessor" accelerator card. Using this method has been said to equal or better the speed of a Macintosh with the same processor, especially with respect to the68k series due to real Macs running inMMU trap mode, hampering performance.[citation needed]
Apple's initial version ofRosetta is a PowerPC emulator allowingIntel-based Macs to run PowerPC Mac OS X applications, but is unable to run non-Carbon Classic Mac OS (9.2.2 or earlier) applications.[43] Rosetta was available for all Intel releases of OS X until version10.7 Lion.
Mac OS 7.6 deserves some special mention. The most obvious difference is the name change; this was for the Mac clone manufacturers, who weren't making Macintoshes but "Mac OS Computers".
Apple has added a few features to spruce up the interface in System 7.5, although these have previously been available as utilities or shareware for quite some time.;Wood, Steve (June 18, 1999)."Busman's Holiday: Disappearing Software".Archived from the original on March 27, 2012.
the latest word out in the Macwarez scene is that pirates shouldn't copy Apple's OS8—Mac's latest operating system—they should buy it, since Apple so desperately needs the money.
Operating systems byApple | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apple II,III,Lisa | |||||||
| Mac |
| ||||||
| iOS derivatives |
| ||||||
| Others | |||||||
| Products |
| ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Services |
| ||||||||||||||||||||
| Companies |
| ||||||||||||||||||||
| Related | |||||||||||||||||||||
| People | |||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||
