Mac OS X





Mac OS X, the latest version of Mac OS, is an operating system for Macintosh
computers from Apple that combines popular features of the traditional
Macintosh user interface on top of a stable Unix operating environment. The
pronunciation OS 'ten' is favored by Apple, to stress continuity with
previous Macintosh operating systems. Others say OS 'ex' , both to emphasize
the relationship with Unix and because of the presence of the roman numeral
X in the name of the operating system.

OS X was created by combining Darwin, an open source Unix-like environment,
which is based on the BSD source tree and the Mach microkernel, with a GUI,
called Aqua, made by Apple Computer. The operating system saw its first
commercial release in 2001.

History

See Mac OS X history.

What is today Mac OS X originally started in 1989 as NeXTSTEP, the
object-oriented operating system developed by Steve Jobs' NeXT company after
he was forced from Apple in 1986. After disappointing sales of the computers
designed to run it, NeXTSTEP was ported to a number of other platforms in
the early 1990s, but never became very popular because it required the
wholescale replacement of the machine's natural operating system. NeXTSTEP
then underwent an evolution into OPENSTEP, which in theory separated the
object layers from the operating system below, allowing it to run with less
modification on other platforms. However by this point in time a number of
other companies, notably Apple, IBM and Microsoft, were claiming that they
would soon be releasing similar software of their own.

Coincident with these developments, by the mid-1990s Apple's own operating
system had reached the limits of its single-user, co-operative multitasking
architecture. A massive development effort to replace it, known as Copland,
was started in 1994, but was generally realized outside of Apple to be a
hopeless case due to political infighting. By 1996 Copland was nowhere near
ready for release, and the effort was eventually cancelled outright. Some
elements of Copland were incorporated in Mac OS 8, released in 1997.

At this point the new CEO of Apple turned to the market to look for a
replacement - a modern operating system with the UI Apple users expected,
and the performance and modern features needed to move the platform forward.
After some time, and a publically rancorous debate, OPENSTEP was selected as
the basis and Apple purchased NeXT outright.

At first the plan was to develop a new operating system based almost
entirely on OPENSTEP, with an emulator for running "classic" Macintosh
applications. The result was known under the code name Rhapsody, slated for
release in 1998. It was expected that developers would port their software
to the considerably more powerful OPENSTEP libraries once they learned of
its power and flexibility, instead, perhaps unexpectedly, the vast majority
of developers told Apple that this would never occur, and that they would
rather leave the platform entirely. Interestingly enough, the newer Cocoa
libraries developed by Apple are almost entirely identical to the original
OPENSTEP libraries, and are recently coming into greater use.

Another re-design was then started, this time promoting the original
Macintosh APIs, re-written as Unix libraries, as first-class citizens of the
new operating system. Another change was required by the switch from
OPENSTEP's Display PostScript engine to one that was license free, known as
Quartz. The resulting changes delayed the introduction of the operating
system by about two years.

During this time the lower layers of the operating system, consisting of the
Mach kernel and the BSD layers on top, was re-packaged and released under an
open source license as Darwin. The Darwin kernel provides an extremely
stable and flexible operating system which rivals many other Unix
implementations, however it is unclear if it sees any real use outside the
Macintosh community.

Description

Many of OS X's users consider its Aqua GUI to be the most attractive and
functional in existence, which has been imitated by others; there are Aqua
lookalikes for other operating systems, (e.g., mosfet liquid). Interface
skins imitating the Aqua look exist for many Microsoft Windows programs,
such as Winamp.

This combination of GUI and kernel has very recently become the most
popular-selling Unix environment to date by sheer numbers. (Note that Mac OS
X is not officially a Unix OS, as Apple has not sought The Open Group
branding, as the cost of certification would make the OS prohibitively
expensive.)

OS X is compatible with older Mac OS applications by using Classic, an
application which allows users to run Mac OS 9.x within OS X, so that most
older applications, such as the ubiquitous SimpleText, etc., run as they
would under Mac OS 9.x. In addition, the Carbon APIs were added to permit
legacy code to be quickly ported to run natively on both OS X and Mac OS
9.x. A fourth option for developers is to write applications in the Java
platform, which OS X supports.

OS X can run many BSD or Linux software packages once compiled for the
platform. Compiled binaries are normally distributed as OS X Packages; but
may still require command-line configuration or compilation. Projects like
Fink and DarwinPorts provide precompiled or preformatted packages for many
standard packages. Apple's X11 will make it even easier to exchange packages
with UNIX and Linux users.

Notable interface features

   * "Uses the Portable Document Format (PDF) as the basis of its imaging
     model." (Quartz Extreme)
   * OpenGL is used to composite windows onto the screen to improve
     performance
   * Full color, continuously scalable icons (up to 128x128 pixels)
   * Drop shadow around window and isolated text elements to provide a sense
     of depth
   * Global spell checking and other powerful tools thanks to NeXT style
     application services
   * Anti-aliasing of widgets, text, and window elements
   * New interface elements including sheets (non-modal dialogues attached
     to specific windows) and drawers.
   * Interweaving windows (i.e. an application's windows are not necessarily
     adjacent in the visible stacking order)
   * Industrial strength color matching (ColorSync) built in to the core
     drawing engine (for print and multimedia professionals)

In 2001, Apple released Mac OS X version 10.0 on March 24, which brought OS
X to the public awareness. It was praised for its completeness and stability
at such an early point in its development (it being a total departure from
previous Apple releases). Despite this, it was criticized for being slow,
leading many (including Steve Jobs) to consider it an excellent beta
release. In September of that year, version 10.1 was released as a free
update, increasing the speed and performance of the system as well as
providing missing features, such as DVD playback.

In 2002, Apple followed up with Jaguar, Mac OS X 10.2, which brought
profound performance enhancements, a newer, sleeker look, and many powerful
enhancements (over 150, according to Apple). Mac OS X is now the only system
shipping on new Macintosh computers.

Mac OS X 10.3, Panther, was released on October 24, 2003, and in addition to
providing much improved performance also incorporated the most extensive
update to the user interface, Aqua. The update included as many or more new
features as Jaguar did.

Versions

   * Mac OS X Public Beta
        o Switch to BSD-derived Darwin kernel
        o New Quartz/Aqua GUI
        o Includes Mac OS 9.1, which it runs in a virtual machine
   * Mac OS X 10.0 - codenamed Cheetah
   * Mac OS X 10.1 - codenamed Puma, major speedups
   * Mac OS X 10.2 - codenamed Jaguar, introduced many new features:
        o Increased support for Microsoft Windows networks
        o Quartz Extreme for compositing graphics directly on the video card
        o An adaptive spam email filter
        o A system-wide repository for contact information in the new Apple
          Address Book
        o Apple Rendezvous networking
        o iChat, an Apple-branded, officially-supported third party AOL
          Instant Messenger client
        o A revamped Finder with searching built directly into every window
        o Dozens of new Apple Universal Access features
        o Sherlock 3: Web services (See Watson)
   * Mac OS X 10.3 - codenamed Panther, released in October 2003, Among the
     over 150 new features:
        o Updated Finder, incorporating a brushed-metal interface and
          fast-searching
        o ExposŽ, a new system to manipulate windows
        o Fast User Switching that allows a user to remain logged in while
          another user logs in
        o iChat AV video-conferencing software
        o Improved PDF Rendering to allow for extremely fast PDF viewing
        o Built-in faxing support
        o Much greater Microsoft Windows compatibility
        o FileVault: on the fly encryption and decryption of a user's home folder

Software

This list includes software that runs in at least one version of Mac OS X
without use of the Classic environment and without use of emulation (though
the list may include emulators).

Made by Apple

   * Apple Address Book
   * Apple DVD Player - plays DVDs
   * Apple Image Capture
   * Apple Mail - email client
   * Apple Preview
   * Apple Script Editor - for editing AppleScripts
   * Apple System Preferences
   * Apple Terminal
   * Apple X11
   * iCal - calendar management
   * iChat AV - instant messaging and video conferencing
   * iMovie - video editing
   * iPhoto - photo cataloging
   * iTunes - music cataloging and purchasing
   * QuickTime Player
   * Safari - web browser
   * Sherlock - file searching (version 2), web services (version 3)

Made by other organizations and/or people

   * Fire - instant messaging client
   * Watson - web services

Press Release

Here, is information on OS X:

...combines the power and stability of UNIX with the simplicity and elegance
of the Macintosh.

...innovative time-saving features including a new Finder and the Dock
designed to help you navigate and organize your system, and give you instant
access to your most frequently used applications, folders....

...built on three cutting-edge graphics technologies Quartz, OpenGL, and
QuickTime...

...the foundation of Mac OS X is an industrial-strength, UNIX-based core
operating system—called Darwin—that delivers unprecedented
stability and performance...powerful, advanced features such as protected
memory, preemptive multitasking, advanced memory management, and symmetric
multiprocessing...

...Seamless device connectivity and industry-leading applications...

...includes powerful, easy-to-use tools for making your own movies, managing
your music, and capturing photos from your digital camera. Built-in support
for burning music and data CDs, playing DVD movies, and even authoring your
own DVDs...

...lets you run thousands of existing Mac OS 9-compatible applications,
while... Mac OS X provides a foundation for great new applications.