IT House March 25 news, according to Apple Insider reported that on March 24, 2001, Apple launched the first official public version of Mac OS X. It didn't work out successfully at first, but supported the Mac for 19 years until it was replaced by macOS Big Sur.
OS X was first introduced with a savior overtones, and if you're a long-time Mac user, it feels like an accomplishment. Although the first "Cheetah" version, 10.0, lacked features and included a lot of bug bugs, it was indeed a jump in Apple's operating system.
It's not just that Mac OS 9 in 1999 has few significant improvements over OS 8 in 1997. And, throughout the '90s, Apple has been working hard to develop revolutionary new operating systems.
From Pink and Taligent to Copland and Gershwin, Apple has repeatedly tried to make new operating systems to keep the Mac up to date. Typically, it comes in multiple versions, some to solve short-term problems or some to prepare your Mac for the future.
When none of these years-long projects produced a product to sell, Apple chose to buy the operating system and eventually brought Steve Jobs back to the company.
The acquisition of NeXT and the consequent acquisition of its NeXTSTEP operating system paved the way for OS X. Along the way, it was briefly expected to bring Rhapsody, the code name for the operating system that runs classic Mac applications in NeXTSTEP.
Its demise coincided with the demise of Apple CEO Gille Amelio, who over time was replaced by Steve Jobs. More than a year before os X Cheetah shipped, Jobs outlined an entire plan from a "gentle migration" of the classic Mac operating system to a new operating system. He ended the long-standing problem of different versions of the operating system working at the same time.
Jobs stressed that OS X will be an operating system. "We're going to have a single os-operating system strategy at Apple," he said, "We're not going to have a double or triple or quadruple os-operating system strategy like some other companies." We will have an operating system, which is very important for us. ”
He summed up Apple's goals on OS X, but then broke it down further. The only real goal of OS X, he says, is to "make the next great PC operating system."
As outlined in January 2000 at the time, the program would have a year to roll out. A beta version of OS X will begin in the spring of that year and then go on sale during the summer. Finally, OS X will begin pre-installing on new Macs in January 2001.
But that's not how it developed. At the time of Jobs' announcement, Mac OS X Server 1.0 had already been shipped, as had the developer preview of the operating system. In September 2000, a public beta was released, but OS X Cheetah was not released until March 24, 2001.
Mac OS X Cheetah is finally here
"Mac OS X is the future of Mac, and we want it to delight our customers with its unmatched features and ease of use," Steve Jobs said in Apple's official announcement. "The public beta received incredible feedback and support from Mac users and developers, which helped us make Mac OS X the most advanced operating system ever made."
"[If] you're a Mac fan," David Bog wrote in The New York Times, "and the worry is over." There is no longer any doubt about the future of Mac OS X, a stable, rugged, and good-looking platform that will support Apple's enhancements for the next 17 years."
By then, the original, classic Mac OS had been running for 17 years. Mac OS X will last longer, reaching 19 years, but it's changed so much that most of the time it's no longer seen as the new operating system.
Despite his overall praise, David Bog, like all critics at the time, was looking forward to the upcoming update, which "could be faster, smoother and more refined."
This will prove to be the September 2001 Mac OS X Puma. It's still slow compared to OS 9, but it's gradually being implemented. Then in August 2002, Mac OS X Jaguar appeared.
More than a year later, it was Mac OS X Panther's turn. In addition to major updates every year, there are regular small updates that address bugs and critical issues.
What OS X brings to the Mac
Steve Jobs' list of goals for the first OS X has always been at the heart of the operating system. He said it had to have "the best internal pipeline" of all operating systems and needed "killer graphics."
"We need to design for the internet from the start," he continued. "We need to design it in a way that gives most users who are always on the internet full benefit."
OS X reached for the Internet, and it became what Jobs called the "digital hub" of growing online life. It makes it possible for Mac users to run multiple applications in a way that they need, and doesn't let any one of them crash the entire system.
When OS X came out, these features were no longer what the "next great PC operating system" should have, but what they all already had. New stuff includes Quartz, OS X's "killer graphics" engine, which is PDF-based.
"What does that mean?" Jobs asked. "Did you know when you go to the web and see a PDF file?" Well, this technology is now at the heart of Mac OS X graphics. So you can image PDF files instantly. So now all apps get this for free."
That's it, today, every Mac application can make PDF documents without the need for third-party applications.
▲ Mac OS X Leopard
The rest of Cheetah's most visible graphics, the Aqua interface, faded away over time. Photolike icons, colorful buttons, and a metallic brushed look have all made the classic Mac OS an amazing upheaval, but have calmed down with gradual new updates.
OS X also introduced the Dock, perhaps the most obvious element of the operating system affected by NeXT. In addition, it brought us mail, TextEdit, and the so-called address book (now known as contacts).
How OS X first evolved
OS X was originally released half to show off an entirely new technology and half to catch up with classic Macs. The visuals are immediately different, but it takes time to match the feature set — and newer operating systems need to be fast enough to be truly usable.
Until OS X 10.1, Puma, the new operating system, can play DVDs or burn CDs. However, that version was also bundled with iTunes for the first time, which prepared OS X for a music boom that both profited from and helped create a music boom.
If you were a Mac user at the time, the lack of some features and the slowness of others were frustrating. This was before OS X Jaguar in 2002, and later it was significantly faster.
With the final release of OS 9 in December 2001, Jaguar became Apple's only operating system. OS X is self-supporting portal, and since then, the operating system has gained more features, downplayed more "killer graphics," and enhanced security.
OS X has always focused on improving security for its users and developers. After Jaguar, Apple introduced Xcode for developers in OS X 10.3, Panther. Previously, developers used any number of different tools to create their software, and now they all have the same tool.
Then in 2004, OS X Tiger added Spotlight (which we still have) and dashboard components (which we don't have anymore). It was also in this version of OS X that Apple completed the transition from PowerPC to Intel processors.
Refinement of OS X
Seven years after the original Mac launch, with the release of System 7, heralding the arrival of the biggest operating system update. OS X didn't actually have a very big change, but around six years after its launch, it did reach OS X Leopard.
It arrived in 2007, bringing major new features, as well as revisions to the then-familiar backbone. One obvious visual change is that the Dock has been transformed into a 3D shelf.
Then, before you accidentally bring up these features, it's Less obvious to Expose and Spaces. The former helps visually focused users see which apps and windows they want to switch to. The latter helps untidy people save files on multiple different desktops.
OS X didn't always have the endless annual updates that Apple still knows today, but Leopard has something new after that. OS X Snow Leopard in 2009 was credited with Apple suspending new features in favor of trying to consolidate all existing features.
It's an approach, a brief slowdown, and many hope Apple will repeat it. The company did repeat the idea of a similar name, with Lion in 2011 followed by Mountain Lion in 2012. But if the transition from Leopard to Snow Leopard is a clever use of names to show progress rather than replacement, by the time of Mountain Lion, Apple had no new name.
Starting in its second year, 2013, OS X will shift to naming places in California. Mavericks started the trend, followed by Yosemite, El Capitan, Sierra, High Sierra, Mojave, and Catalina.
Along the way, os X's name was changed to macOS. Apple's Big Sur then continued both the macOS name and the convention of naming locations in California. But it also breaks a convention.
Over 19 years, each update was around 10 versions — all the way up to 10.19 — and Big Sur was macOS 11.
The end of OS X
Apple's macOS Catalina is the result of nearly 20 years of development, but it's still the recognizable OS X. In terms of all its visual changes, its replacement in 2020, macOS Big Sur, is still a recognizable Mac.
This is the most visually changing version of macOS, but it's also converged, so after a few months of using Big Sur, it feels less noticeable. That's the Mac, and there's even debate within Apple about whether it should be version 11.
"It's time," Craig Federighi said on "Talk Show," shortly after it was unveiled at WWDC in June 2020. "We certainly had a lot of internal discussion about the right timing [changed to 11]."
"We felt that this operating system was enabling some of the ways in which apple silicon could do the next phase for the Mac in terms of supporting Apple Silicon, and that was an important moment," he continued. "We think that some of the deep infrastructure changes that have taken place to make this transition are also quite fundamental, so this is the right moment to symbolically turn to 11." We feel it deserves it. ”
The time included under the macOS name, OS X served the Mac from March 24, 2001 to November 12, 2020 for up to 19 years, 7 months, and 19 days.
In comparison, the time from the rollout of macs to december 5, 2001, when Mac OS 9.2.2 was last released was 17 years, 10 months and 11 days.
For most Mac users today, OS X is the computing platform they grew up on, and it won't be forgotten. Note that the classic Mac operating system is also still alive in the emulator.