MacOS

Apple Mac OS X is the operating system for Apple Macintosh computers on the PowerPC (PPC) and Intel x86 platform. The latest version of OS X is Mavericks (10.9), released on October 22, 2013.

Known versions

Mac OS X Developer Preview 2

Public Beta

Apple released to the public, on September 13, 2000, a "preview" version of Mac OS X (internally codenamed Kodiak) in order to gain feedback from users, which cost $29.95. The "PB" as it was known marked the first public availability of the Aqua interface and Apple made many changes to the UI based on customer feedback. Mac OS X Public Beta expired and ceased to function in Spring 2001. However, via some commands in OpenFirmware on G3 and G4 Macs, the system clock can be altered, allowing the use of it even after Spring 2001. (Intel-based Macs do not have OpenFirmware, nor can they run classic versions of OS X, which were compiled for the PPC platform).

Cheetah (10.0)

10.0 "Cheetah" was the first officially released copy of OS X for the public, after the aforementioned Public Beta. It was the first version of Mac OS that was based on top of new UI frameworks adapted from the NeXtStep OS, the Mach microkernel, and a fork of FreeBSD UNIX nicknamed "Darwin" by Apple. Several new applications were written for the new operating system, and others, such as the Finder, were rewritten in the Carbon framework. Despite it's tremendous internal changes that allowed complete Posix support and new frameworks, Mac OS X was not without criticism when it first launched for $129.

Mac OS X 10.0, similar to the Public Beta, sported a new UI called "Aqua", which featured all-new water-like UI elements, animations, and a new rendering engine that supported advanced compositing at the time of its release and PDF support. Aqua was slow, was careful in rendering elements and scrolling, and favored cleaner redrawing, leading to an impression of sluggishness on this system. Furthermore, several features, such as labels in the Finder, the ability to burn CDs and the DVD Player, were not present as they were in OS 9. While people liked the new Aqua UI, and found it innovative and fresh, the Dock was criticized as an issue for usability and yet others missed the customizable Apple menu from earlier Mac OS versions. Finally, independent benchmarks had shown that copying and transferring files in the gold release was slower than on OS 9. Apple wisely continued to ship Mac OS 9.2.2 as an option for Macintosh users, who were not used to the revolutionary, but baby OS that would take until 10.2 "Jaguar" to fully mature.

Puma (10.1)

"Puma" looks identical to the "Cheetah" release, but it contains several improvements to "Cheetah", and is a critical point of OS X history. Echoing what would occur later with 10.6 "Snow Leopard", 10.1 focused on fixing, maintaining, and improving OS X internally, rather than being another revolutionary release. Unknown to newer Mac users, before 10.9 "Mavericks" was released in 2013, this was the first OS X release offered for free to users of a previous OS X release--10.0 "Cheetah" (who needed the upgrade). Perhaps the most important of these changes was the vast amount of general system improvements to both performance and to 3D and OpenGL rendering, which finally made the next-generation operating system a viable solution for the last generation of Macintosh users, who had grown accustomed to stability within the Classic Mac OS. It also improved upon ColorSync, allowing media professionals to more easily manage color on the then-young Mac OS X.

"Puma" now also supported playing DVDs as in Mac OS 9, and finally, the burning of optical discs in OS X, from both the Carbon Finder, and in iTunes as well--bringing back an important feature to Mac users. As a bonus feature, Image Capture also shipped with this version of OS X for the first time.

Mac OS X 10.1 "Puma" shipped by default on new Mac systems at the time, such as the iMac G4. While it was a vast improvement that had fixed the initial problems of its predecessor, it would still be months before the Mac community would begin to run and depend solely on Mac OS X for booting their systems.

Jaguar (10.2)

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.

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.

"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".

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...

Tiger (10.4)

This version of Mac OS X introduced Spotlight, the first search that can integrate into most apps. This is the first version of Mac OSX that supports Intel x86 processors, as well as PowerPC processors. There are 11 updates to the OS, making it the longest-supporting Macintosh OS version ever.

Leopard (10.5)

This version of Mac OS X introduces a lot of new features, most notably: Time Machine, to find and restore your backups when you need them, or if you just accidentaly deleted a file, and Spaces, Moving your windows into 4 (or more) personalizable spaces. The dock also got a new fuction named "Stacks", which allows an easy way of using files from folder pinned on the dock, as well it got a graphical overhaul. Like Mac OS X 10.4, it could run on PowerPC and Intel processors. It is the last release to run on PowerPC Macs.

Snow Leopard (10.6)

Requirements: Intel Core Duo or newer processor, 1 GB of RAM; latest update is 10.6.8, dropped PowerPC support

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)

Released on July 25, 2012.

Basic System Requirements for OS X Mountain Lion:

• 64-Bit Intel Core 2 Duo processor or better required
• Ability to boot into OS X 64-bit kernel
• Advanced GPU chipset required
• 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. It is available for free at the Mac App Store.