Published June 13, 2001
Apple Computer Company is shipping the latest Macintosh computer models with its new Operating System Ten (OS-X) pre-installed. Seven years in the development, it is the most modern and stable, totally different from all previous innovations.
An operating system is the software that runs the computer, the coded instructions that facilitate, in Apple’s case, its renown ease-of-use.
One of the primary objectives for the new software platform was “bullet-proof stability.” Apple’s perspective is that a computer should not crash and should intuit the user’s needs elegantly with minimal user intervention to maintain basic functionality. Apple CEO Steve Jobs said he is doing all this because, “I realized that I didn’t want to use Windows for the rest of my life.”
“It’s unbelievable. I’ve never seen anything like this,” raved Rob Burgess, CEO of Macromedia after seeing a Mac OS-X demonstration. “The OS is quite revolutionary,” says Rob Malda of Slashdot.
For the early adopters, OS-X will run both current (Classic) and Native (Carbonized or Cocoa) programs. Based upon Unix, the operating system that runs most of the Internet servers in the world, the OS-X is viably a realistic industrial strength reality to run Web servers. “The only problem with maintaining the MacOS,” says local merchant Jack McShea of Cinnabar Mac, “is keeping the power on.”
In the first three months since its release, over 350 diverse applications have developed for the new system. More than ten thousand developer organizations globally are working on Mac OS-X applications. “It’s a start,” says Jobs. “All hands are on deck at Apple,” which number about a thousand software engineers, to improve the X-System performance and capabilities.
“OS-X is a truly modern, and indeed a revolutionary new operating system,” said Wincent Colaiuta of Wincent.org. The first version will be “just a beginning, the first chapter in a highly successful and indeed world-changing book.”
The installed OS-X immediately supports seven written languages: English, Spanish, Japanese, German, French, Italian and Dutch. One product opens automatically in any language chosen. Avi Tevanian, Apple’s chief software engineer, promises more languages soon.
Mainstream software publishers attracted to the Mac include Alias/Wavefront who produces a popular 3D application called Maya. Aladdin, Adobe, Connectix, Corel, Dantz, Earthlink, IBM, Macromedia, Symantec and Thursby, to name a few, have pledged commitment to producing OS-X versions of their popular products. Observers expect increased market share for the Mac platform.
Unlike other software publishers that add more and more code to their older programs, Apple efficiently rebuilds each major revision (System 6 to 7 to 8 to 9) so it performs predictably to current standards. System Ten has been engineered upon a new foundation, code named Darwin.
A common comment in the industry is “Easy as a Macintosh.” Apple’s software package contains a CD for Mac OS-X and another for Mac OS 9.1. A third CD is brimming with developer tools including Cocoa programming, promised to be simple enough for school children to use. The installation process is just a double-click of the installer icon! Twenty minutes and a few interactive question later—three times faster and simpler than other manufacturers’ current products—the OS is installed, and the computer is ready for action.
Mark Specker, analyst with investment bank Wit SoundView, says, “Mac OS-X gives Apple technological bragging rights again.” Included is QuickTime for streaming video and three-dimensional graphics (OpenGL) for great visual displays of computer games. Virtual memory, support for Java 2 and refined CPU resource management is integrally designed into the architecture.
See part 2 next week, conclusion of Apple’s Mac OS-X.