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'''Apple Mac OS X''' is the operating system for Apple Macintosh computers, first released to the public on March 24, 2001. It is the successor to Mac OS 9, hence the X signifying both its Unix roots and the major release version number 10. As mentioned by Apple, Wikipedia, and others, it is said as Mac OS 10. It shares none of the "Classic" Mac OS design, and is completely rewritten and uses Next frameworks, a hybrid XNU/Mach kernel, and a BSD subsystem dubbed "Darwin". While underlying components of OS X are free/open source software, the top layers, such as the Aqua UI, are proprietary; Darwin packages can be downloaded and compiled from the Apple Open Source website to make a bootable OS.
'''macOS''' (formerly ''Mac OS X'') is an operating system for Apple Macintosh computers,<ref>OS X running on Macs [https://www.apple.com/osx/ OS X page on apple.com]</ref> first released to the public on March 24, 2001, developed by [[Apple]]. It is the successor to Mac OS 9, hence the X signifying both its Unix roots and the major release version number 10. As mentioned by Apple, Wikipedia, and others, it is said as Mac OS 10. It shares none of the "Classic" Mac OS design, and is completely rewritten and uses Next frameworks, a hybrid XNU/Mach kernel, and a BSD subsystem dubbed "Darwin". While underlying components of OS X are free/open source software, the top layers, such as the Aqua UI, are proprietary; Darwin packages can be downloaded and compiled from the Apple Open Source website to make a bootable OS.


Mac OS X has been built for three different architectures and four platforms during its release cycle to date. The first six releases (10.0.0-10.5.8) were designed for the PowerPC architecture, adding 64-bit PowerPC support as an additional platform for the G5 in 10.3 Panther. Intel (x86) support started with 10.4.4 Tiger, and was built as a universal release for both PowerPC/x86 with 10.5 Leopard, which finally dropped all G3 support. Since 10.6, PowerPC support is non-existent/dropped, and Mac OS X is currently designed for Mac computers with Intel 32-bit (x86) and Intel 64-bit (x86_64) architectures. AMD is not currently officially supported. Starting with 10.7 "Lion", Mac OS X is now referred to simply as "OS X".
Mac OS X has been built for three different architectures and four platforms during its release cycle to date. The first six releases (10.0.0-10.5.8) were designed for the PowerPC architecture, adding 64-bit PowerPC support as an additional platform for the G5 in 10.3 Panther. Intel (x86) support started with 10.4.4 Tiger, and was built as a universal release for both PowerPC/x86 with 10.5 Leopard, which finally dropped all G3 support. Since 10.6, PowerPC support is non-existent/dropped, and Mac OS X is currently designed for Mac computers with Intel 32-bit (x86) and Intel 64-bit (x86_64) architectures. AMD is not currently officially supported. Starting with 10.7 "Lion", Mac OS X is now referred to simply as "OS X".<ref>Mac OS X is now called OS X [https://www.apple.com/osx/ OS X page on apple.com]</ref>


The "iPhone OS" or iOS, which powers the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad is a direct descendant of OS X, and shares its design and many internal frameworks. The latest version of OS X is "Yosemite" (10.10), released on October 16, 2014.
The "iPhone OS" or iOS, which powers the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad<ref>iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad are powered by iOS [http://www.apple.com/ios/ iOS page on apple.com]</ref> is a direct descendant of OS X, and shares its design and many internal frameworks. The previous version of OS X is "Yosemite" (10.10), released on October 16, 2014.<ref>The latest version is 10.11.5 [https://www.apple.com/osx/ OS X page on apple.com]</ref> macOS Sierra (10.12 internally) is currently in development, scheduled for this Fall.<ref>Development of macOS Sierra [http://www.apple.com/macos/sierra-preview/ macOS Sierra preview page on apple.com]</ref> Developer previews and Public Betas are available.<ref>Developer Previews Public Betas are available [https://beta.apple.com/sp/betaprogram/ Apple Beta Software Program on apple.com] [https://developer.apple.com/osx/pre-release/ Developer preview on developer website of Apple]</ref>


__TOC__
== Versions ==


==Versions==
=== Classic ===
==== Earlier Releases ====
It is worth noting that releases before 3.x are usually buggy and unstable, and should not be used on your vintage Macintosh computer if you want it to do anything useful.
 
==== BYTE Build ====
Screenshots of this build were provided in the BYTE magazine in 1984. This version has a black default background and has the Arrange menu.
 
==== System 0.85 ====
It was first leaked version of the Macintosh operating system. This version was the base for the Tour disk that came with the original Macintosh, and a non-tour version exists but boots only on special development hardware.
[[image:SDMP(UNKNOWN).jpg|thumb|System 0.85 standalone version]]
 
'''Features'''
* System icons are of a prototype Macintosh with a Twiggy drive.
* Folder icons are round.
* The about box scene is much more simpler, done in MacPaint by Susan Kare, and is in the code, NOT a resource.
* The Alternate disk (Unknown Disk) system is present
* Grim Reaper icon in resources (unused)
 
'''Bugs'''
* Key Caps crashes the machine and sometimes corrupts the display memory.
* Alternate Disk system, although unusually unscrapped, goes to the RAM. Opening a application destroys this data.
* Scroll bars do not grey out when there is no scroll space.
* Doesn't work with many applications.
 
==== System 0.97 ====
It was the first official version of the Macintosh operating system. It came with the Macintosh 128k when it first released. This version is already pre-installed on a 400k floppy, which it also booted from and ran with 128k of RAM. Still based on the updated kernel of 0.85, this version is still quite buggy. However, most of the bugs from 0.85 were fixed and it is technically done.
 
==== System 1.1d ====
An update to 0.97, had slight changes but is otherwise the same. The most common version of pre-System 6 OS'es.
 
==== System 1.1g ====
System 1.1g kernel with 2 disks packed with developing / debugging software. This used to be a rare version of the Mac OS until it was released on BetaArchive.
 
==== System 1.1h ====
Not much is known about this odd version, but we do know that it exists.
 
==== System 2.0 ====
Technically the same as System 1.1, yet has several bug fixes. Recommended for your 128k if you can't get ahold of System 3.x.
 
==== System 6 ====
System 6 was a version of Mac OS, It was released on April 1988. The operating system of the Apple Macintosh computer, which was used in the late 1980s prior to the introduction of System 7. It is still widely considered to be the best system software version for the Macintoshes compatible with it. Cooperative multitasking made its Macintosh debut in March 1985 with a program called Switcher, which allowed the user to launch multiple applications and switch between them. However, many programs and features did not function correctly with Switcher, and it did not come with the operating system, so it had to be acquired from Apple separately. System 6 featured a much more seamless approach called MultiFinder. MultiFinder originally debuted with System 5 (System file 4.2 / Finder 6.0). Multitasking under System 6 was optional — startup could be set to Finder or MultiFinder. If MultiFinder was selected, the Finder and its functions continued to run when an application was launched. The MultiFinder environment allowed users to see past the windows of running applications to view Finder icons such as the Trash, or the windows of other applications running in the background.
 
==== Mac OS 7 ====
[[File:Welcometomacos-original.png|200px|thumb|right|Mac OS 7 booting up]]
System 7 (codenamed ''Big Bang'') was initially released in May 1991.<br />
Versions 7.0 to 7.1.1 only worked on the 68k platform; 7.1.2 added support for PowerPC processors.
 
==== Mac OS 8 ====
<!--[[File:Macos81boot.gif|200px|thumb|right|Mac OS 8.1 booting up]] -->
Released on July 26, 1997. It had the codename ''"Tempo"''.
<br />
Initially, the early beta releases of the product which were circulated to developers and Apple internal audiences, were branded as Mac OS 7.7 (superseding the current release, Mac OS 7.6). Afterwards, the software was later renamed to Mac OS 8 before the final release.<br>
The fist two releases of Mac OS 8 still could be run on Motorola 68k processors, however version 8.5 dropped support for the 68k platform, only supporting PowerPC based Macintoshes.
 
==== Mac OS 9 ====
[[File:Mac_OS_9.png|200px|thumb|right|Mac OS 9.0.4 Booting up]]<!--[[File:Mac_OS_9_with_A_Few_Running_Applications.png|200px|thumb|left|Mac OS 9.0.4 with some running applications]]-->
Released on October 23, 1999, codenamed ''"Sonata"''.
<br>
Apple discontinued development of Mac OS 9 in May 2002.
 
=== Mac OS X: 2001-2015 ===


<table class="wikitable">
<table class="wikitable">
<th colspan=4><h3>Mac OS X versions</h3></th>
<tr>
<tr>
<th>Trade name</th>
<th>Release</th>
<th>Version</th>
<th>Version</th>
<th>Codename</th>
<th>Internal name</th>
<th>Architecture</th>
<th>Additional information</th>
<th>Additional information</th>
</tr>
</tr>
<tr>
<tr>
<td>[[Mac OS X Developer Preview]]</td>
<td>[[Mac OS X Server 1.x]]</td>
<td></td>
<td>1.0-1.2.3</td>
<td></td>
<td>Rhapsody 5.3</td>
<td></td>
<td>G3 Beige - early G4 (ppc)</td>
<td>Early developer releases of Mac OS X based on the Rhapsody OS.</td>
</tr>
</tr>
<tr>
<tr>
<td>[[Mac OS X Public Beta]]
<td>[[Mac OS X Public Beta]]
<td></td>
<td>10.0.1H39</td>
<td></td>
<td>Kodiak</td>
<td></td>
<td>G3 Beige - G4 (ppc32)</td>
<td>Official beta for participating users; famously had no Apple menu.</td>
</tr>
</tr>
<tr>
<tr>
<td>[[Mac OS X Cheetah]]</td>
<td>[[Mac OS X Cheetah]]</td>
<td>10.0</td>
<td>10.0</td>
<td></td>
<td>Cheetah</td>
<td></td>
<td>G3 Beige - G4 (ppc32)</td>
<td>The gold release of Mac OS X. While revolutionary, Cheetah was slow and lacked labels, burn support, and other features.</td>
</tr>
</tr>
<tr>
<tr>
<td>[[Mac OS X Puma]]</td>
<td>[[Mac OS X Puma]]</td>
<td>10.1</td>
<td>10.1</td>
<td></td>
<td>Puma</td>
<td></td>
<td>G3 Beige - G4 (ppc32)</td>
<td>Incremental update to 10.0, which fixed bugs, optimized the system, and added Burn support. Offered free to affected 10.0 users at the time.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>[[Mac OS X Jaguar]]</td>
<td>10.2</td>
<td>Jaguar</td>
<td>G3 Beige - G4 (ppc32)</td>
<td>First major upgrade for Mac OS X, with a marketed 150 new features. It is also the first to sport a feline theme and its codename on the box.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>[[Mac OS X Panther]]</td>
<td>10.3</td>
<td>Panther</td>
<td>G3/G4 (ppc32), G5 (ppc64)</td>
<td>Second major upgrade for Mac OS X. Introduced Expose, FileVault, rapid search APIs, G5 support, and a new Finder.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>[[Mac OS X Tiger]]</td>
<td>10.4</td>
<td>Tiger</td>
<td>G3/G4 (ppc32), G5 (ppc64), x86/x64</td>
<td>Introduced Spotlight, Dashboard, H.264 support, and was the first to run on x86 (10.4.7+). It is the longest running release ever with 11 updates.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>[[Mac OS X Leopard]]</td>
<td>10.5</td>
<td>Leopard</td>
<td>G4 (ppc32), G5 (ppc64), x86/x64</td>
<td>Introduced Cocoa Finder with QuickLook, Spaces, Time Machine, and visual overhaul. Last version to support G4/G5, and only unified x86/x64/ppc(64) release on one disc.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>[[Mac OS X Snow Leopard]]</td>
<td>10.6</td>
<td>Snow Leopard</td>
<td>Intel x86/x64</td>
<td>Optimized $29 successor to 10.5. It is the last version for 32-bit x86 (Core Solo/Duo).</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>[[Mac OS X Lion]]</td>
<td>10.7</td>
<td>Lion</td>
<td>Intel x64</td>
<td>First release to require x64, and the first digital (non-optical) release. Introduced Autosave, fullscreen app support, Mission Control, the Mac App Store, Launchpad, and many other features for $19.99. It is the last release to not require efi64 (late 2008 and later).</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>[[OS X Mountain Lion]]</td>
<td>10.8</td>
<td>Mountain Lion</td>
<td>Intel x64</td>
<td>$19.99 upgrade to Lion, with Gatekeeper, better memory protection, improved scrolling and Autosave control, tweaked applications, and new iOS inspired applications (Notes, Reminders). Dropped 'Mac' in the OS X title, and requires an x64 EFI, which obsoleted several 64-bit Macs.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>[[OS X Mavericks]]</td>
<td>10.9</td>
<td>Mavericks</td>
<td>Intel x64</td>
<td>First release to drop the feline theme, named after California landmarks. First release of OS X since 10.1 to be free to Mac users. Introduced major core system improvements since Snow Leopard, including timed coalescing, memory compression, and energy tweaks.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>[[OS X Yosemite]]</td>
<td>10.10</td>
<td>Yosemite</td>
<td>Intel x64</td>
<td>Features a redesign of the UI to match iOS 7, Swift, an all-new Spotlight, Handoff support, Continuity, widgets, and more. Adds Extensions (ode to classic), and a dark mode for the Dock and Menubar.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>[[OS X El Capitan]]</td>
<td>10.11</td>
<td>El Capitan</td>
<td>Intel x64</td>
<td>Introduces filters for Spotlight, SIP, and overall improvements to the system like 10.6 and 10.9.</td>
</tr>
</tr>
</table>
</table>


===Jaguar (10.2)===
=== macOS: 2016-present ===


Mac OS X "Jaguar" was the first major release of Mac OS X since the initial launch, for several reasons, and was considered by many Mac enthusiasts to be the first serious, and mature, version of Mac OS X to ship on Apple hardware, such as the PowerBook G4, as it addressed several issues, slow performance, and it was toted by Apple's marketing team as having 150 new features! For the fans of Apple's classic programs, QuickTime and Sherlock were also updated to new versions, with new tweaks and features inside the applications.
<table class="wikitable">
<tr>
<th>Release</th>
<th>Version</th>
<th>Internal name</th>
<th>Architecture</th>
<th>Additional information</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>[[macOS Sierra]]</td>
<td>10.12</td>
<td>Sierra</td>
<td rowspan="4">Intel x64</td>
<td>Visually changes the name for the first time since 2001. It has added Siri to the Mac, Optimized Storage, watchOS paired unlocking, improved Swift, universal Clipboard and Tabs, and APFS support. It is the first release since 10.8 to shift requirements.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>[[macOS High Sierra]]</td>
<td>10.13</td>
<td>High Sierra</td>


One major shift that took place, indicating the placement of OS X as a truly different system, was the removal of the Happy Mac symbol and the older shade of gray that appeared when Mac OS started up since System 7 from the startup splash. It was instead replaced with a solid grey Apple logo that was slightly darker than the lighter, solid grey background.
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>[[macOS Mojave]]</td>
<td>10.14</td>
<td>Mojave</td>


"Jaguar" was the first OS X that supported Bluetooth, thanks to the new Apple hardware that needed such support at the time, and was the first to accept the industry-standard vCard formats seriously, with sync support built into the operating system. Every aspect from disk access, networking with Windows machines, I/O speed, and printing--as well as the graphics layer with the new Quartz Extreme, were introduced with this version. 10.2 included a much better version of Apple Mail, and it also sped up the Finder significantly, thanks to several internal code tweaks to the core application--though Finder would still need several changes, which finally took place in 10.3 "Panther", the next release. A new, simple networking stack which was then known as Revendous (now known as Bonjour) was also marketed with "Jaguar", along with a serious Universal Access component that advanced OS X accessibility. Also of interest with this release is that the "Inkwell" feature shared similarities to the cancelled Newton project, (including an easter egg in the code), and accepted handwritten characters in OS X for the first time. Safari could now be installed as the default web browser as well, as it debuted on OS X as a new browser; though Internet Explorer for Mac was installed and would still be bundled with OS X in 10.3 "Panther".
<td>Ends support for OpenGL and OpenCL in favour of Apple's proprietary Metal graphics API.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>[[macOS Catalina]]</td>
<td>10.15</td>
<td>Catalina</td>


Perhaps more seriously, the journaled file system was also a major improvement that was evident throughout the system, meaning that file corruption on the HFS Extended format was much less likely to occur than it did on 10.0 or 10.1--a serious improvement. The combined improvements and new features that were poured into OS X 10.2 made it worth the $129 price for upgrading to it. However, despite all the new changes, including the more frequent use of brushed metal over pinstripes appearing in some applications, "Jaguar" was only the beginning, despite its jump forward, and Apple would yet again release another version of OS X, "Panther", again boasting 150 new features in the future...
<td>Replaces iTunes with three new apps: Apple Music, Apple Podcasts, and Apple TV. Ends all support for 32-bit applications.</td>
 
</tr>
===Panther (10.3)===
</table>
 
After the major fixes in 10.1 and 150 improvements and features brought to "Jaguar", which finally solidified OS X as a mature operating system platform recognized by reviewers and critics, Apple announced the fourth major release of Mac OS X, and yet again, boasted 150 new features. Codenamed "Panther", Mac OS X 10.3 vastly improved boot and launch times, and was the first release to support 64-bit machines, specifically the then newly-released Power Macintosh G5. It also included new and improved search APIs and integrated search in the Finder with local, per-folder, and remote search options that preceded the system-wide Spotlight framework that would be added later to 10.4 "Tiger". In addition to quicker searching, native PDF rendering and scrolling was also much faster, as demoed at a developer conference by Apple.
 
Out of all the new features that debuted in "Panther", one feature is worth highlighting, as it changed window management significantly. In Mac OS X "10.3", a revolutionary windowing feature dubbed Exposé was introduced, which for the first time, allowed Macintosh users to consolidate, move, and hide windows without having to manually minimize, hide, and flip through them traditionally. Exposé could be used in two ways -- the first was by using "screen corners", which could be assigned in the then-new Exposé pane or from the Desktop & Screen Saver preference pane in System Preferences. The function keys also gained special actions for Exposé by default. F9 showed all applications, F10 showed windows for just the active application, and F11 hid or showed all windows to reveal the Desktop on demand.
 
Exposé was one of the top 10 most recognizable features of OS X in the last decade, and has influenced other user interface designs, including the Gnome UI team and the Flip 3D feature in Aero. Despite being in three more official OS X releases following Panther (four in total), it was eventually replaced by Mission Control in 10.7 "Lion".
 
The second major new feature, demanded by companies for better security on their mobile hard drives, such as in the PowerBook G3 and G4 as examples, was "FileVault". While per-file encryption had been supported in Mac OS 9, and file security had been supported overall in Mac OS, a real solution for protecting data was needed. FileVault allowed the entire home folder to be easily encrypted with a password on logout or upon setup, then decrypted on login. Along with the new security features, an improved system firewall and Secure Empty Trash were added to 10.3.
 
The third notable feature in "Panther" was a completely redesigned Finder, whose brushed metal appearance caused controversy amongst users until the universal unirfied design introduced in Leopard. It also did something very important -- the Finder from the very first OS X release focused primarily on the devices and computers, whether local or on a network, inherent from the design the new Finder gained from the Next file browser. The design in Panther focused on the home folder and user folders such as Pictures and Music, though other folders could easily be added and removed, similar to the Dock. It also added a large, easily-navigable sidebar, which was short-lived, only lasting into Tiger. Panther also, for the first time since 9.2.2, had labels in the Finder--but these, despite the internal metadata on HFS filesystems for detecting the presence of labels being the same, appeared as rounded highlighting on the folder labels themselves, and did not colorize the folder, as System 7 to Mac OS 9.2 had done. While this was a significant improvement that many Mac users were thankful for, some reviewers at the time noted the dot and file highlight inconsistencies labels caused in list and column views, and complained over the bug. The new Finder also included a new Action menu, meaning that most (but not all) functions that could be completed with a contextual menu and previously required it or going to the Menubar now could be done directly from the Finder. Other minor improvements taken advantage of in the Finder today, such as DVD burn support for Windows machines, a easily customizable command toolbar, and the ability to compress folders were added in 10.3.
 
Font Book was added to OS X for easy access and installation of fonts on the system, and several fonts - Hoefler, Skia, and others were added along with improved effect and new shadow controls in system font boxes. iChat gained a new video conferencing feature, and "AV" was added to denote audio/video in the application name. Similarly to Microsoft's Windows XP, which already had introduced such a feature, Panther introduced Fast User Switching on the Mac, meaning that users on OS X no longer had to log out to allow someone to log into his/her separate account. It also took advantage of the Quartz Extreme stack and allowed cube rotation animations of different desktops if the GPU on that system supported it. Major improvements to Mail and iDisk service were also added to the Mac OS X line, such as better junk filtering, starting with Panther. HFS (the default OS X filesystem) also continued to receive several major improvements, such as better journaling support and automatic optimization upon installation or when handling large files that improved usage of all Mac OS Extended filesystems attached to that Mac.
 
Other minor tidbits were gracefully added to this major release, such as the ability to customize all system keyboard shortcuts, or to assign menu items intelligently to a shortcut when added manually. The new "Vicki" speech voice, the next-generation daughter of the aging MacInTalk Victoria voice was also introduced as the system default in Panther. The Aqua UI also received notable subtle improvements the Mac community had sent feedback on, such as refined transparency in menus and sheets, smoother antialiasing, animation and scroll handling, and reduced striping details begun in Jaguar (the previous release) complemented by the new milky-striped Menubar and refined Apple logo.
 
Panther, for the first time, began to look at the world maturely in terms of its support, and included yet more print and scan drivers and extensions, improved SMB and Windows networking support, Word format support in TextEdit, and yet more international support from the previous release. UNIX tools, the BSD subsystem, and CUPS also received several improvements, as well as a new XCode release that introduced smarter garbage collection and cleanup, along with new compilation mechanisms and an easier UI.
 
Overall, Panther was a large and significant improvement to Mac OS X that cannot be undermined, and set the trend for releasing large amounts of improvements and features to the Mac OS X line that would continue into future releases until Mavericks.
 
===Tiger (10.4)===
 
After several successful desktop releases, and the establishment of Mac OS X as a serious desktop operating system with Jaguar and Panther, Apple pushed forward yet again with the next large update of OS X - 10.4 "Tiger". On June 28, 2004 Tiger was announced at the WWDC, and took one of the longest wait times, second to 10.5 "Leopard", to release on April 29, 2005. Outside of the introduction of Exposé in Panther (the previous release), Tiger added several notable killer features that would become OS X icons throughout the decade, and was notable for being the longest running OS X release in history with 11 minor updates (10.4.11), while all other versions of OS X at most had received 8 or 9 updates in total.
 
One of the first breakthrough features was dubbed "Spotlight", which improved upon the per-application instant search stack and APIs introduced in 10.3 "Panther" was a new system-wide expansion of this technology that was now available to all applications, including to major OS X applications such as System Preferences and Address Book with full metadata details and "smart folders", a new saved search feature in the Finder, Mail 2, and iTunes. Spotlight was prominently featured throughout the entire OS, from the installation welcome window and introduction video, to the highlighting effect used when searching with the new toolbar in System Preferences. The Menubar also gained a blue (or graphite, depending on Appearance preferences) circle with the Spotlight search glass inside, which allowed universal searching of the entire system, whether files, folders, e-mails, or any other data specified in Spotlight preferences. Spotlight was developed much faster than competing desktop environment search engines at the time, and indexed new drives and ran as a system service in the background by default. This feature was so successful that it is widely speculated today that the Aero Search and Start Search features in Windows Vista may have at least been heavily influenced in design and placement by Spotlight.
 
Tiger also brought a new Grapher application (not seen since Graphing Calculator on Mac OS 9), and a new Dictionary application with a system-wide dictionary and thesaurus that could be called by applications as a service, such as in TextEdit. It also introduced RSS to Safari, and a new layered widget system called Dashboard to OS X, which was added as F12 by default, next to the F9-F11 Exposé key set previously assigned in Panther (although the MacBook had a dedicated Dashboard key and moved it). Tiger also brought several important security enhancements to Safari, and a redesigned firewall with Stealth Mode and other controls for easier management. New to Mac OS X was also the H.264 codec, which allowed editing and viewing of videos packaged in a more compact encoding along with QuickTime 7, which was later backported to Panther users. Tiger also brought several Accessibility improvements, including a redesigned Accessibility preference and Speech pane, and a new system-wide screen reading feature called VoiceOver. Parental Controls were also first added to Tiger for easier household management, although Leopard would greatly enhance this feature. Apple also focused on improving the Mac experience in the home and work with Tiger as well. Integrated into Setup Assistant and also as a seperate app, Migration Assistant allowed Mac users to retrieve and sync data, and additional support for the .Mac and iTools services (the predecessor to iCloud) with better syncing were added, along with a new automated scripting framework and the Automator application.
 
As with Panther, Apple continued to carefully craft the young Aqua into a more refined and mature UI, continuing the use of brushed metal over plastics, a gloss/glass menubar style that mirrored the current product lineup, and changed the overall look of highlights and the Apple logo. Aqua now allowed cycling through windows from the Window menu in addition to Exposé, and brought a new aluminum unified title and toolbar style in select applications, such as System Preferences and Mail, that would finally be completed and used system-wide in all applications in the next release, 10.5 Leopard.
 
In pursuit of 64-bit computing, Mac OS X 10.4 continued this evolution by allowing 64-bit application support on the system by allowing applications designed for the new framework to address more than 4 GB of memory on supported systems, such as the G5, and also allowed 64-bit Macs to boot from the unified Tiger DVD, whereas 10.3 required a machine/CPU-specific copy for the G5. Despite the improvements, 64-bit support was far from complete, and many more improvements would follow in 10.5, and full 64-bit support would finally be complete from the kernel and system extensions down to the userland with the release of 10.6 in August 2009. 10.4 also improved SMP and changed the OS X boot process and significantly improved system launch, boot, and response times by using the new launchd process to spawn different jobs on the system, and made significant improvements for filesystem support, including for mounting NTFS drives. Minor improvements were made to the updated Finder and to the new Finder Labels previously introduced in 10.3 Panther to address their behavior, and tools within the BSD subsystem, such as the cp command, were patched and released with Tiger to better handle resource forks better than previous releases had. The development environment, XCode, also received significant improvements, such as the ability to visually model and use graphics with CoreImage and CoreVideo. Quartz Composer, Core Data, and several new APIs that extended on the previous work done in Panther were also added to 10.4 Tiger for developers as well. Finally, Tiger also introduced AU Lab and crisper audio playback and support in Mac OS X.
 
With the release of 10.4.4, Tiger finally supported the new Intel (x86) based Core Solo and Core Duo Mac models that were part of Apple's transition from the PowerPC architecture to the Intel architecture that started in 2006. Some Intel models required later revisions such as 10.4.7; it could very well be that due to the transition, Tiger remained the longest running OS X version in history. The change also prompted the Hackintosh community to rise in popularity with installation guides and support for running Mac OS X on x86-based computers as a 'hack', hence the title. This movement was criticized by Apple, with several kernel and system patches made to prevent it with most later major software updates to Tiger, and is considered to break the SLA -- as OS X is not running on "Apple-branded" hardware. Regardless, Tiger still required architecture-specific discs and it wouldn't be until 10.5 Leopard that Apple would finally release OS X for a quad-architecture universally on one disc.
 
Overall, Mac OS X Tiger clearly helped evolve Mac OS X into an advanced operating system, which helped to set both performance and feature set expectations in later releases. Mac OS X 10.4.11 is the last version to support G3 processors and early G4 processors (though rare, early developer builds of Leopard can legitimately boot on G3, and all G4 processors can run Leopard with a CPU clock speed OpenFirmware hack.)
 
===Leopard (10.5)===
Main article: [[Mac OS X 10.5|Mac OS X 10.5]]
 
With the release of Mac OS X 10.4 "Tiger", Apple had become aware of Microsoft's plans for a next-generation version of Windows codenamed "Longhorn" at the time, and pushed forward with several revolutionary desktop features, and began to market Mac OS X as "the world's most advanced operating system".
 
Leopard, however, is very significant to Apple Mac OS X history for numerous reasons. The first, however, is because it holds the longest record between Mac OS X releases, and outside of the Intel transition may be what contributed to the longest update cycle yet in 10.4 "Tiger", (though this is only speculation and is debatable). Apple's former CEO Steve Jobs first mentioned a next OS X release after Tiger in 2005, but announced Leopard on August 7 at the WWDC 2006, targeting a Spring 2007 release that never occurred. Conversely, Microsoft's project "Longhorn", however, finally was completed as Windows Vista on November 8, 2006, and by January 30 of that next year had shipped. Leopard again was announced, this time as a full beta, on June 11 at the WWDC 2007--one year after the original announcement. Even then, 10.5 "Leopard" would not be released until that fall in October--9 months after Windows Vista and 2 years after the original discussion.
 
When 10.5 was finally released to the public, it had the most impressive array of features yet and complemented Apple's new "Mac vs. PC" ad, which had taken full advantage of the bad press following Vista's release. While Panther and Tiger had indeed introduced three revolutionary features altogether that would be icons for Mac users everywhere, with the introduction of Expose and FileVault, then Spotlight -- Leopard brought a total of 300 new changes and features, and several major innovations that actually were ahead of or equaled work done with Longhorn in several respects.
 
The first major set of changes were done to the Aqua UI, which had previously undergone brushed metal and glossy, semi-unified changes in Tiger and Panther. In Leopard, several major system icons were changed for the first time, including all folders in the Finder. This caused controversy amongst reviewers who found the new flat badged folders to be difficult to distinguish at smaller icon sizes. But Aqua did finally address long-held concerns by the Mac community in several areas. Leopard introduced the Unified toolbar design in all applications, and completely got rid of the brushed metal and glossy pinstriped plastic and aluminum look and feel, replacing it instead with a dark gray, more professional tone. System dialogs, menus, and sheets now had blurred, smooth backgrounds and corners were rounded. Animation speed and responsiveness improved significantly from earlier versions, and drop shadows were strengthened on active windows. Blue gradients for selected items were made sharper and darker with a distinct vertical gradient, and the AirPort menu was slightly cleaned up and improved, allowing faster selection of networks over Tiger. The Menubar became square, losing its signature rounded corners, and also became semi-transparent, slightly showing the background underneath. The Dock was transformed into a 3D "reflective floor" as well, as described by the Leopard Dock demo video, which meant windows close to the dock and icons reflected back like a mirror. The Dock also replaced the old triangle indicators with blue orbs of light to signify running applications. Both changes also caused complaints amongst reviewers due to visibility, similar to the badged folders, and Apple eventually allowed Mac users to turn off Menubar transparency in Desktop & Screen Saver preferences. The Dock can also be changed to a black 2D appearance by either putting it on the left or right sides, or through a Boolean value in Terminal. Also, Macs that did not support new Core frameworks and acceleration, such as older G4s, had a gray-white solid Menubar gradient background instead.
 
Spotlight was dramatically expanded to search networked Macs, supported Back to My Mac, and could now retrieve Dictionary definitions and do simple calculations from the Menubar when summoned. The OS X Help system also featured Spotlight search for menu items and topics, and was able to dynamically show the location of menu items within that application. Spotlight's behavior changed to allow the first item highlighted to be opened by pressing Return, rather than the "Show All..." menu item and improved search results, integrating smart folders and categories more into advanced searches and the Finder sidebar itself. The Spotlight logo was slightly modified in System Preferences, and the Menubar now sported a clean magnifying glass instead of the circle Spotlight logo.
 
Since the beginning, Mac OS X had a rather annoying problem. In the event a user needed to reinstall the system, or if their hard drive had crashed, Mac OS X did not have a built-in backup system. The user would have to back data up manually and transfer it back manually to another source, or otherwise had to use the built-in *nix tools or a RAID set whenever they could remember to back the system up. If OS X needed repairs, it usually required booting from the Mac OS X DVD and doing an Archive & Install or doing filesystem repair and unmounted partitioning from the DVD. Apple answered these two concerns in Leopard. Firstly, Disk Utility gained the ability to repair the startup volume/disk while the system was running and allowed live partitioning of that volume as well. Secondly, Apple introduced what would become another instantly recognizable Mac feature--Time Machine. This allowed automatic backups of the user's home folder and the system itself to an external hard drive or later, to a Time Capsule, so that Mac users could easily manage their backups and restore them through a rather cool animated galaxy frontend that allowed bringing those files back "from the past". And long before system-wide AutoSave in 10.7 Lion, Leopard allowed TextEdit documents to auto-save if the user set it in TextEdit's preferences.
 
Several other areas of OS X were addressed to make working on the Mac simpler. TextEdit allowed smart or curly quotes, and supported newer XML-based Microsoft Word documents. Non-active windows could be selected, the Terminal gained tabs and color presets, and Guest accounts were introduced for easier use, as well as a full suite of Parental Controls built into the system with a dedicated preference pane that was much easier to find and a much simpler setup over Tiger. For the first time, Macintosh systems now gained the ability to have multiple virtual desktops (4 by default) that could be created, deleted, and switched to directly using the mouse or keyboard. Apple marketed this feature as "Spaces". Boot Camp was directly integrated into OS X for Windows users, unlike in Tiger, where it had to be installed separately or as a factory application. Networking was also greatly simplified, from the redesigned preference panes (i.e. Network, Sharing, and Security) in System Preferences, to the new browsing ease between both Mac and PC systems, which could appear in the sidebar. Accessibility was revamped for easier use, and introduced a new voice that used artificial inhale sounds during pauses called "Alex" that replaced Vicki from Panther--though Vicki can still be used, albeit with a slightly different accent from the new speech engine. VoiceOver received significant improvements over Tiger as well, and improved how user changes could be assigned to the interface and navigation commands. Front Row, an option for certain Mac models in Tiger, was added to the default set of applications and shipped with Leopard. Font Book also protected system fonts that could previously be removed by mistake, and allowed easier printing. Mail added the ability to completely save or "archive" your mailbox if you wished, and data detectors, which allowed Mac users to save contacts from written info similar to the iPhone and Stationary, a set of templates that could be dynamically customized then sent to different mail clients, whether they were on another Mac or not if they used a client capable of rich mail features. Unknown to many Mac users, Notes and To-Dos were first introduced in Mail in 10.5 Leopard -- the reason why this is often missed is because it is hidden as another feature within the Mail application, and are not separate applications.
 
The Finder was, for the first time, completely rewritten in Cocoa and included a new Sidebar that modeled after the one introduced in iTunes, which cleanly separated devices, networked computers, places, and searches or smart folders into distinct groups, making navigation easier. Cover Flow was also added to the Finder, along with enhanced folder sharing and Quick Look -- which allowed all supported types of documents, pictures, music, and videos to be previewed without having to open an application separately with one press of the spacebar to summon Quick Look and another to close it. 128x128 pixel icons that surpassed the previous 64x64 icon size and full-page navigable previews were also added when icons were scaled up with View preferences in the Finder.
 
Other tidbits were added to the OS, like a new Downloads folder, which became needed as other browsers and systems included such a folder when installed. The ability to map locations from context menus in applications such as Address Book, spring-loaded icons in the Dock, a new Stacks feature which allowed users to place items directly on the Dock, and the addition of Wikipedia to the Dictionary search results were added. Apple also continued to improve international support, including for Japanese. DVD Player allowed better resuming of movies, a sleeker interface, and now could recover from scratches. iCal could now "auto-pick" times for events such as appointments, and it was now possible to turn off all alarms quickly, amongst several other minor improvements to the application.
 
iChat AV also significantly advanced with the signature Backdrop feature and Effects that could be applied to live video to produce distortion, color effects, and other fun mods from an attached webcam, also in the Photo Booth application. It was also now possible to do tabbed chatting, and multiple logins, amongst other serious improvements.
 
Developer features also seriously advanced, starting with user-level features such as full EXIF support, full Unicode support for AppleScript, the ability to directly edit property lists, and UI recording and "starting points" in Automator, which was previously introduced in Tiger. Dashcode for the new release of XCode also extended the Dashboard and made it easier to develop widgets; normal users could also make "web clips", similar to Active Desktop in Windows 98, which allowed sites to be updated as widgets in frames. OpenGL improvements, a new Core Animation framework, and enhancements to multi-core were added to 10.5 Leopard, along with enhancements for 64-bit computing, allowing applications to fully take advantage of 64-bit instructions, leveraging the previous ability to address large amounts of memory added in 10.4 Tiger. Instruments also allowed "analysis templates" and direct dtrace support in Leopard. The Objective C 2.0 standard was also added to Leopard in this release, project snapshots, and instant-on debugging were also introduced to XCode version 3 that shipped with Leopard.
 
While early developer previews of Leopard could boot on the G3, and while Apple had originally included "G3" within early adverts for the upcoming Leopard, by the later betas and the final release, it was clear that the G3 was completely dropped, leaving 10.4.11 to be the last official Mac OS X release to run natively on the G3. Early G4 machines were also unsupported, though a quick OpenFirmware hack allows Leopard to bypass the clock check, and therefore be installed normally.
 
After Leopard, Apple would go on to release Snow Leopard in 2009 for Intel Mac models only built solely for the x86/x64 architecture, making Leopard the final OS release by Apple to ever support PowerPC. Disappointingly, as Snow Leopard was designed to optimize the speed of OS X overall as a maintenance release, the maximum OS X version all G4 and G5 computers can run 10.5.8.
 
By the end of 2007, Apple's market share on the Macintosh had begun to significantly climb, boosted by the introduction of new products, a completed Intel transistion, and the general user perceptions of Windows Vista at that time. With Leopard, OS X finally gained full Unix certification and Leopard also helped establish the identity of OS X as a whole and as an innovative system, giving it several key features known throughout the world, such as Time Machine.
 
===Snow Leopard (10.6)===
Main Article: [[Mac OS X 10.6|Mac OS X 10.6]]
 
 
10.5 "Leopard" had been a large success, having finally unified support for Intel and PowerPC machines onto one DVD release, with full 64-bit support for the PowerMac G5. Despite these advances, 10.5 still lacked a complete switch from the kernel down to 64-bit throughout the whole system for the newly-released Intel machines (the Mac Pro was already 64-bit capable, and several Mac models quickly switched from using the Core Duo (32-bit) to the then-new Core 2 Duo (64-bit) processor.) A successor to 10.5 "Leopard" was first announced at the WWDC on June 9, 2008, then again in 2009, and finally was released to the public August 28 of the same year.
 
10.6 "Snow Leopard" was not advertised as competing against Windows as Leopard had done previously, nor was it toted as containing a groundbreaking feature set. Rather, the mission of 10.6 "Snow Leopard" was to further Mac OS X by adding support for new technologies, fine tuning, and refining frameworks and the OS as a whole from the previous release on Apple desktops and notebooks. Part of this change, as previously mentioned, was the introduction of full 64-bit support for x86_64 Macs, though "Snow Leopard" was also designed to run as a 32-bit OS on hardware such as the early Core Duo-based Mac Mini, iMac, and MacBook models.
 
Despite being smaller, "Snow Leopard" is a release to be reckoned with, as it improved the overall performance of the system, fixing several bugs that caused overall sluggishness in the previous large-scale release, 10.5 "Leopard". Accessibility features, including the drastic changes made to VoiceOver and to several underlying features, were improved to be more responsive to input. Time Machine backups were smoother on average, Finder file operations, such as copying and emptying the Trash, were tweaked overall for faster performance, and both CUPS (the underlying printing service for OS X and other *nix-like systems) and network operations were improved. Smaller improvements, such as better support for mDNS packets and energy improvements were made as well. A minor, but welcome change often overlooked is the addition of a Restore button in the Trash on the Mac, that has existed in the Recycle Bin for Windows users since 95. The memory footprint and disk footprint were significantly reduced for a lighter and faster install (10.5 required 9 GB; 10.6 reduced this to 5 GB minimum). A clean installation of "Snow Leopard" took 15-20 minutes less on average than an install of "Leopard" on the same hardware with its initial release, making it easier for system administrators to upgrade hardware. The addition of OpenCL and several notable improvements to CoreAudio, CoreAnimation, and CoreVideo made it easier for developers to release media-rich applications without impacting the performance of their system; it also solidified the work from earlier releases of the above frameworks, and allowed new applications to be built in this category as well. In addition, application sandboxing, the shift of major applications to 64-bit (note: these only run as 64-bit on 64-bit hardware), address randomization and advances to securing memory helped to further protect Mac OS X.
 
Finder finally finished the long transition to being a completed Cocoa application, and Boot Camp allowed Windows-on-Mac users to access their OS X formatted partitions (HFS+). Multi-touch trackpad support was also greatly improved from Leopard, and allows all-new gestures on all supported Mac magic mice and trackpads. Other features include fixes to TextEdit and Preview when editing or selecting text versus earlier versions (where text may have been highlighted accidentally), Microsoft Exchange support, improved iChat video quality, and a new release of Safari 4.0 that added the then-popular Cover Flow feature, Top Sites, and crash resistance and (limited) process isolation (this would not be completed until Mavericks, 4 years later). Lastly, QuickTime X was introduced with an all-new overlay controls style with a translucent title bar that floated on top of the video, making the active video or QuickTime window look like a large thumbnail. It also added new controls, such as the ability to cut, all-new HD support for HD videos and content, and allowed screen captures, video recording, and audio recording built into Mac OS X natively for the first time (previous versions required third-party applications to record sound or to screencast).
 
Other minor improvements include small tweaks to the Aqua UI, such as to window buttons and the Menubar, as well as to the Aurora wallpaper (which appears smoother), and a gamma change from the old 1.8 Macintosh default to a lower, more crisp gamma default to help aid photography and media professionals better calibrate their work to industry-standard displays. New "Art" wallpaper and other additions were stealthily added to Desktop & Screen Saver preferences as well and an optional eject button is shown in the Menubar for devices.
 
The final cumulative update to "Snow Leopard", 10.6.8, added several security patches, performance and reliability fixes, and also backported the Mac App Store to "Snow Leopard" as well, where a user is then able to upgrade to 10.8 "Mountain Lion", 10.9 "Mavericks", or even 10.10 "Yosemite" through the App Store. However, 10.6.8 "Snow Leopard", along with previous Mac OS X releases, are vulnerable to the potential "Shellshock" holes that may affect the underlying BSD subsystem by exploiting bash to gain unwanted control and access on an unpatched system. Since Apple only provides an official patch to this issue for 10.7 "Lion" and above, solutions include compiling a recent build of bash from the GNU FTP and copying the binaries manually, or extracting the installer package for Lion with Pacifist and placing the pre-compiled binaries into the intended folders using Terminal (which may be an easier method for non-developers).
 
10.6 "Snow Leopard" is a unique, well-loved, and critical release for several reasons, as it is the last stable and longest supported OS X version before the major changes made in 10.7 "Lion" and later that mimicked the feature set in iOS. It is the final release to retain the original Dashboard and Expose functionality by default (rather than Mission Control) and is the final version to include QuickTime 7 (needed for legacy video support). "Snow Leopard", however, mainly owes its long life to the fact that it is also the last release to support 32-bit Intel Core Duo and Core Solo models, and is the last Mac OS X release to include the Rosetta compatibility layer, making it possible to run most (though not all) applications written for PowerPC, such as Photoshop for the G4. While Universal applications can still run on "Lion" and later, it is this support that is treasured by many Macintosh enthusiasts who still wish to run older software on their Intel Macs, making it perhaps one of the most-loved releases in OS X history.
 
It is also by far the version of choice for veteran Hackintosh users, and in this sense is comparable to XP for Microsoft, and a third-party hack makes "Snow Leopard" the only version that can boot and install on AMD64 machines. However, perhaps the driving factor behind this was the low $29 price point that Apple offered this release for, making owning personal copies affordable and thereby a much more likely target to install. With "Snow Leopard", Apple solidified their operating system as a world-class, enterprise ready system that was not just fun and dynamic, but that was tuned well with solidified frameworks, proving to be reliable. With this release, Apple began to focus on the next set of major features and finally dropped support for G4 and G5 (PowerPC) processors, just as it had dropped the lower-powered G3 in "Leopard".
,
 
===Lion (10.7)===
A preview of Lion was publicly unveiled at Apple's "Back to the Mac" event on October 20, 2010. It will bring many developments made in Apple's iOS, such as an easily-navigable display of installed applications, to the Mac, and will include support for the Mac App Store, as introduced in Mac OS X Snow Leopard version 10.6.6. On February 24, 2011, the first developer's preview of Lion (11A390) was released to subscribers of Apple's developers program. The latest preview (build 11A459e) was released on May 13, 2011.
 
In a press release by Apple on May 31st, 2011, an announcement was made that this new release will be unveiled by Steve Jobs on June 6th at the WWDC 2011.
 
It was scheduled to release on Summer 2011.
 
This was also the last Mac OS developed before Steve Jobs died.
 
A Intel Core 2 Duo or newer processor and 2 GB of RAM is required.


===Mountain Lion (10.8)===
== Timeline ==
OS X is released on July 25, 2012. It mostly adds new iCloud-based software, to replace the older Apple cloud software .me. There is also a new Notification Center, which displays messages from phone, and new notifications from online services.
[[File:Mac_OS_Timeline.png]]


====Basic System Requirements for OS X Mountain Lion:====
== Emulation ==
*64-Bit Intel Core 2 Duo processor or better required
[[File:Mini_vMac_for_the_iPhone.PNG|200px|thumb|left|Mini vMac, a 68k Macintosh emulator running on the iPhone]]
*Ability to boot into OS X 64-bit kernel
There are a few good 68k Macintosh emulators available today, which have been ported to various platforms and operating systems. Most of these emulators can run the full range of 68k Macintosh System Software<br>
*Advanced GPU chipset required
There is one PowerPC emulator, SheepShaver, which runs Mac OS System 7.1.2 through 9.0.4, and has been ported to various operating systems. The reason Mac OS 9.1 and up don't run in SheepShaver is that SheepShaver lacks a Memory Management Unit emulator, something that the last few Mac OS Releases needed.
*Internet connection required to download and install OS X 10.8


====Macs that support OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion====
*MacBook Pro – 13″ from mid 2009 or later, 15″ from late 2007 and newer, 17″ from late 2007 and newer
*MacBook Air – late 2008 and newer
*iMac – models from mid 2007 and newer
*MacBook – 13″ aluminum from 2008, 13″ from 2009 and newer
*Mac Mini – early 2009 and newer
*Mac Pro – early 2008 models and newer
*XServe – early 2009 models and newer


====Macs that do NOT support OS X Mountain Lion====
*Anything with an Intel GMA 950 or x3100 integrated graphics card
*Anything with an ATI Radeon X1600
*MacBook models released prior to 2008
*Mac Mini released prior to 2007
*iMac models released prior to 2007
*Original MacBook Air


===Mavericks (10.9)===
Mavericks is the tenth major release of OS X. It was announced at June 10, 2013, at WWDC 2013. The RTM was released on October 22, 2013 and it boasts several changes over the original OS X releases.


Mavericks made Apple history for two distinct reasons: 1) For the first time, OS X was released to all qualifying Mac users free of charge as a system upgrade on the Mac App Store, and 2) Mavericks is the first release that stopped using feline codenames and switched to California-based titles, thus making it the start of a new generation or line of OS X. Mavericks also did not change system requirements significantly (if at all) from Mountain Lion.


While aestetically the same as 10.8 "Mountain Lion" (the previous release), 10.9 introduced memory compression, improved paging, and new energy management features, along with Time Coalescing.


===Yosemite (10.10)===
== References ==
Yosemite is the current version of OS X, released on October 16, 2014. It was announced at the 2014 WWDC, and is currently available for free download from the Mac App Store for all users. Yosemite is perhaps the largest change to Mac OS since the release of 10.0 itself, with a completely redesigned Aqua UI inspired by the translucent "Glass" design of iOS 7, new icons, Continuity, Spotlight 2, and other large-scale changes.
<references></references>
[[Category:Operating Systems]]

Revision as of 23:38, 19 November 2019

macOS (formerly Mac OS X) is an operating system for Apple Macintosh computers,[1] first released to the public on March 24, 2001, developed by Apple. It is the successor to Mac OS 9, hence the X signifying both its Unix roots and the major release version number 10. As mentioned by Apple, Wikipedia, and others, it is said as Mac OS 10. It shares none of the "Classic" Mac OS design, and is completely rewritten and uses Next frameworks, a hybrid XNU/Mach kernel, and a BSD subsystem dubbed "Darwin". While underlying components of OS X are free/open source software, the top layers, such as the Aqua UI, are proprietary; Darwin packages can be downloaded and compiled from the Apple Open Source website to make a bootable OS.

Mac OS X has been built for three different architectures and four platforms during its release cycle to date. The first six releases (10.0.0-10.5.8) were designed for the PowerPC architecture, adding 64-bit PowerPC support as an additional platform for the G5 in 10.3 Panther. Intel (x86) support started with 10.4.4 Tiger, and was built as a universal release for both PowerPC/x86 with 10.5 Leopard, which finally dropped all G3 support. Since 10.6, PowerPC support is non-existent/dropped, and Mac OS X is currently designed for Mac computers with Intel 32-bit (x86) and Intel 64-bit (x86_64) architectures. AMD is not currently officially supported. Starting with 10.7 "Lion", Mac OS X is now referred to simply as "OS X".[2]

The "iPhone OS" or iOS, which powers the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad[3] is a direct descendant of OS X, and shares its design and many internal frameworks. The previous version of OS X is "Yosemite" (10.10), released on October 16, 2014.[4] macOS Sierra (10.12 internally) is currently in development, scheduled for this Fall.[5] Developer previews and Public Betas are available.[6]

Versions

Classic

Earlier Releases

It is worth noting that releases before 3.x are usually buggy and unstable, and should not be used on your vintage Macintosh computer if you want it to do anything useful.

BYTE Build

Screenshots of this build were provided in the BYTE magazine in 1984. This version has a black default background and has the Arrange menu.

System 0.85

It was first leaked version of the Macintosh operating system. This version was the base for the Tour disk that came with the original Macintosh, and a non-tour version exists but boots only on special development hardware.

File:SDMP(UNKNOWN).jpg
System 0.85 standalone version

Features

  • System icons are of a prototype Macintosh with a Twiggy drive.
  • Folder icons are round.
  • The about box scene is much more simpler, done in MacPaint by Susan Kare, and is in the code, NOT a resource.
  • The Alternate disk (Unknown Disk) system is present
  • Grim Reaper icon in resources (unused)

Bugs

  • Key Caps crashes the machine and sometimes corrupts the display memory.
  • Alternate Disk system, although unusually unscrapped, goes to the RAM. Opening a application destroys this data.
  • Scroll bars do not grey out when there is no scroll space.
  • Doesn't work with many applications.

System 0.97

It was the first official version of the Macintosh operating system. It came with the Macintosh 128k when it first released. This version is already pre-installed on a 400k floppy, which it also booted from and ran with 128k of RAM. Still based on the updated kernel of 0.85, this version is still quite buggy. However, most of the bugs from 0.85 were fixed and it is technically done.

System 1.1d

An update to 0.97, had slight changes but is otherwise the same. The most common version of pre-System 6 OS'es.

System 1.1g

System 1.1g kernel with 2 disks packed with developing / debugging software. This used to be a rare version of the Mac OS until it was released on BetaArchive.

System 1.1h

Not much is known about this odd version, but we do know that it exists.

System 2.0

Technically the same as System 1.1, yet has several bug fixes. Recommended for your 128k if you can't get ahold of System 3.x.

System 6

System 6 was a version of Mac OS, It was released on April 1988. The operating system of the Apple Macintosh computer, which was used in the late 1980s prior to the introduction of System 7. It is still widely considered to be the best system software version for the Macintoshes compatible with it. Cooperative multitasking made its Macintosh debut in March 1985 with a program called Switcher, which allowed the user to launch multiple applications and switch between them. However, many programs and features did not function correctly with Switcher, and it did not come with the operating system, so it had to be acquired from Apple separately. System 6 featured a much more seamless approach called MultiFinder. MultiFinder originally debuted with System 5 (System file 4.2 / Finder 6.0). Multitasking under System 6 was optional — startup could be set to Finder or MultiFinder. If MultiFinder was selected, the Finder and its functions continued to run when an application was launched. The MultiFinder environment allowed users to see past the windows of running applications to view Finder icons such as the Trash, or the windows of other applications running in the background.

Mac OS 7

Mac OS 7 booting up

System 7 (codenamed Big Bang) was initially released in May 1991.
Versions 7.0 to 7.1.1 only worked on the 68k platform; 7.1.2 added support for PowerPC processors.

Mac OS 8

Released on July 26, 1997. It had the codename "Tempo".
Initially, the early beta releases of the product which were circulated to developers and Apple internal audiences, were branded as Mac OS 7.7 (superseding the current release, Mac OS 7.6). Afterwards, the software was later renamed to Mac OS 8 before the final release.
The fist two releases of Mac OS 8 still could be run on Motorola 68k processors, however version 8.5 dropped support for the 68k platform, only supporting PowerPC based Macintoshes.

Mac OS 9

Mac OS 9.0.4 Booting up

Released on October 23, 1999, codenamed "Sonata".
Apple discontinued development of Mac OS 9 in May 2002.

Mac OS X: 2001-2015

Release Version Internal name Architecture Additional information
Mac OS X Server 1.x 1.0-1.2.3 Rhapsody 5.3 G3 Beige - early G4 (ppc) Early developer releases of Mac OS X based on the Rhapsody OS.
Mac OS X Public Beta 10.0.1H39 Kodiak G3 Beige - G4 (ppc32) Official beta for participating users; famously had no Apple menu.
Mac OS X Cheetah 10.0 Cheetah G3 Beige - G4 (ppc32) The gold release of Mac OS X. While revolutionary, Cheetah was slow and lacked labels, burn support, and other features.
Mac OS X Puma 10.1 Puma G3 Beige - G4 (ppc32) Incremental update to 10.0, which fixed bugs, optimized the system, and added Burn support. Offered free to affected 10.0 users at the time.
Mac OS X Jaguar 10.2 Jaguar G3 Beige - G4 (ppc32) First major upgrade for Mac OS X, with a marketed 150 new features. It is also the first to sport a feline theme and its codename on the box.
Mac OS X Panther 10.3 Panther G3/G4 (ppc32), G5 (ppc64) Second major upgrade for Mac OS X. Introduced Expose, FileVault, rapid search APIs, G5 support, and a new Finder.
Mac OS X Tiger 10.4 Tiger G3/G4 (ppc32), G5 (ppc64), x86/x64 Introduced Spotlight, Dashboard, H.264 support, and was the first to run on x86 (10.4.7+). It is the longest running release ever with 11 updates.
Mac OS X Leopard 10.5 Leopard G4 (ppc32), G5 (ppc64), x86/x64 Introduced Cocoa Finder with QuickLook, Spaces, Time Machine, and visual overhaul. Last version to support G4/G5, and only unified x86/x64/ppc(64) release on one disc.
Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6 Snow Leopard Intel x86/x64 Optimized $29 successor to 10.5. It is the last version for 32-bit x86 (Core Solo/Duo).
Mac OS X Lion 10.7 Lion Intel x64 First release to require x64, and the first digital (non-optical) release. Introduced Autosave, fullscreen app support, Mission Control, the Mac App Store, Launchpad, and many other features for $19.99. It is the last release to not require efi64 (late 2008 and later).
OS X Mountain Lion 10.8 Mountain Lion Intel x64 $19.99 upgrade to Lion, with Gatekeeper, better memory protection, improved scrolling and Autosave control, tweaked applications, and new iOS inspired applications (Notes, Reminders). Dropped 'Mac' in the OS X title, and requires an x64 EFI, which obsoleted several 64-bit Macs.
OS X Mavericks 10.9 Mavericks Intel x64 First release to drop the feline theme, named after California landmarks. First release of OS X since 10.1 to be free to Mac users. Introduced major core system improvements since Snow Leopard, including timed coalescing, memory compression, and energy tweaks.
OS X Yosemite 10.10 Yosemite Intel x64 Features a redesign of the UI to match iOS 7, Swift, an all-new Spotlight, Handoff support, Continuity, widgets, and more. Adds Extensions (ode to classic), and a dark mode for the Dock and Menubar.
OS X El Capitan 10.11 El Capitan Intel x64 Introduces filters for Spotlight, SIP, and overall improvements to the system like 10.6 and 10.9.

macOS: 2016-present

Release Version Internal name Architecture Additional information
macOS Sierra 10.12 Sierra Intel x64 Visually changes the name for the first time since 2001. It has added Siri to the Mac, Optimized Storage, watchOS paired unlocking, improved Swift, universal Clipboard and Tabs, and APFS support. It is the first release since 10.8 to shift requirements.
macOS High Sierra 10.13 High Sierra
macOS Mojave 10.14 Mojave Ends support for OpenGL and OpenCL in favour of Apple's proprietary Metal graphics API.
macOS Catalina 10.15 Catalina Replaces iTunes with three new apps: Apple Music, Apple Podcasts, and Apple TV. Ends all support for 32-bit applications.

Timeline

Mac OS Timeline.png

Emulation

Mini vMac, a 68k Macintosh emulator running on the iPhone

There are a few good 68k Macintosh emulators available today, which have been ported to various platforms and operating systems. Most of these emulators can run the full range of 68k Macintosh System Software
There is one PowerPC emulator, SheepShaver, which runs Mac OS System 7.1.2 through 9.0.4, and has been ported to various operating systems. The reason Mac OS 9.1 and up don't run in SheepShaver is that SheepShaver lacks a Memory Management Unit emulator, something that the last few Mac OS Releases needed.




References

  1. OS X running on Macs OS X page on apple.com
  2. Mac OS X is now called OS X OS X page on apple.com
  3. iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad are powered by iOS iOS page on apple.com
  4. The latest version is 10.11.5 OS X page on apple.com
  5. Development of macOS Sierra macOS Sierra preview page on apple.com
  6. Developer Previews Public Betas are available Apple Beta Software Program on apple.com Developer preview on developer website of Apple