Published June 20, 2001
Apple Computer Company derived its totally new operating system, Mac OS-X, from the purchase of NeXT Software’s OpenStep platform, with niceties of Unix in a package with which consumers can feel comfortable. It’s reorganized and beautified exterior functionality and inner advancements establish this one as the model to follow.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs said, “We want this to be the bridge between really powerful technology and mere mortal users.” Chris LeTocq, analysis with Gartner Group, said “In the PC environment, Mac OS-X is the premiere consumer experience.”
The debut of the first Macintosh in 1984 is generally accepted as the start of the personal computer era. Wincent Colaiuta of Wincent.org said, “It really does feel like 1984 again. Mac OS-X represents a curious blend of the tried-and-tested, on one hand, and the radically new on the other.”
OS-X is the first commercial software to engage something called preemptive multitasking with protected memory. That simply means every application (word processor, email program, etc.) has its own compartment; so if the program hiccups, freezes or bombs, the computer continues working. Relaunching the application will not require the computer to be restarted.
Preemptive multitasking is the operating system’s timekeeper, regulating the processor cycles for each functioning program. In earlier OS versions, a program would hog the show; downloading a file from the Internet, for instance, may temporarily halt all other programs from completing their tasks.
Apple continues it’s tradition in OS-X for inventing an improved user-friendly 3D display, called Aqua. This is the first commercial graphical user interface (GUI) built around an Unix core. Love it or hate it, the Aqua influence has already being simulated in the competator’s Windows XP product.
The kernel of the OS-X is a variation of FreeBSD, one open-source version of Unix used by European physicist, Tim Berners-Lee and his team to develop the original Web.
OS-X is the first microcomputer operating system to support the Java 2 programming language and teaming multiple processors. The open-source Apache software, which dominates more than half the Internet’s Web servers, is included.
Interrupted downloaded files over the Internet can reconnect and continue without staring over. A Mac laptop, for instance, could be connected or disconnected from a corporate network, transported to an airport, and reconnected to a wireless network, and the file-download resumed.
The Finder’s job, as before, is handling file-system functions. But in OS-X, the Finder is less cluttered. A quick-access folder toolbar at the top open window, toggled on or off. File names from several levels can be viewed simultaneously in a multicolumn list. The new Finder Search box is similar to a Web browser with a Back button. A docking station contains the Apple Menu, Control Strip and Applications Switcher. The Trash can is there too.
Unix aficionados will be pleased to know the Mac OS-X, with its Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD) Unix core, has an optional command line when needed. Although typing word instructions may feel more comfortable to old pros, the original point, click and dragging is still the beauty and fun of using a Macintosh.
Mac OS X requires 128 megabytes of RAM, one gigabyte of hard drive storage, and will only run on G3- and G4-based Macintoshes. Apple’s market research holds that users generally do not upgrade their system software on Macs older than 18 months.
Developers have ported the core of the operating system to the Intel chips. The obvious future is that OS-X may hold the key to be the first mainstream system to run both Motorola and Intel platforms. Then there will be a viable choice for “the rest of us.”
Every time Wall Street and the media have declared Apple is financially near death’s door, the company rebounds. Aside from its low debt and large cash holdings, Apple thrives by its capacity to innovate, to dazzle and impress customers and investors with technological breakthroughs and popular products like the iMac, iBook and Airport wireless local area networking. Apple enjoys one of the most recognized and beloved brands in the computer world.
“Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Apple is committed to bringing the best personal computing experience to students, educators, creative professionals and consumers around the world through its innovative hardware, software and Internet offerings.” —www.apple.com