

The name "Classic" that now signifies the system as a whole is a reference to a compatibility layer that helped ease the transition to Mac OS X. Nine major versions of the classic Mac OS were released. Releases The text-only logo for Classic Mac OS starting with Mac OS 7.6, released in 1997 The system was considered user-friendly, but its architectural limitations were critiqued, such as limited memory management, lack of protected memory and access controls, and susceptibility to conflicts among extensions. Later updates to the System 7 enable the transition to the PowerPC architecture. System 7 supports 32-bit memory addressing and virtual memory, allowing larger programs. System 5 introduced cooperative multitasking. Initial versions of the System Software run one application at a time. Ĭlassic Mac OS is characterized by its monolithic design.

It was originally named "System Software", or simply "System" Apple rebranded it as "Mac OS" in 1996 due in part to its Macintosh clone program that ended a year later. Īpple released the original Macintosh on Januits early system software was partially based on the Lisa OS and the Xerox PARC Alto computer, which former Apple CEO Steve Jobs previewed.
#Macos versions names mac os x#
The "classic" Mac OS is the original Macintosh operating system that was introduced in 1984 alongside the first Macintosh and remained in primary use on Macs until the introduction of Mac OS X in 2001. Main article: Classic Mac OS Mac OS 9, released in 1999 Apple's effort to expand upon and develop a replacement for its classic Mac OS in the 1990s led to a few cancelled projects, code named Star Trek, Taligent, and Copland.Īlthough they have different architectures, Mac operating systems share a common set of GUI principles, including a menu bar across the top of the screen the Finder shell, featuring a desktop metaphor that represents files and applications using icons and relates concepts like directories and file deletion to real-world objects like folders and a trash can and overlapping windows for multitasking. Prior to the introduction of Mac OS X, Apple experimented with several other concepts, releasing different products designed to bring the Macintosh interface or applications to Unix-like systems or vice versa, A/UX, MAE, and MkLinux. It is the basis of Apple's current system software for its other devices – iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, and tvOS.
#Macos versions names update#
The current macOS is pre-installed with every Mac and receives a major update annually. Developed between 19 after Apple's purchase of NeXT, Mac OS X brought an entirely new architecture based on NeXTSTEP, a Unix system, that eliminated many of the technical challenges that the classic Mac OS faced. The current Mac operating system is macOS, originally named "Mac OS X" until 2012 and then "OS X" until 2016. Noted for its ease of use, it was also criticized for its lack of modern technologies compared to its competitors. The system, rebranded "Mac OS" in 1997, was pre-installed on every Macintosh until 2002 and offered on Macintosh clones for a short time in the 1990s. In 1984, Apple debuted the operating system that is now known as the "Classic" Mac OS with its release of the original Macintosh System Software. Two major families of Mac operating systems were developed by Apple Inc. For the now classic OS, formerly named that way, see Classic Mac OS.
