Happy 6th Birthday, Mac OS X! Here’s the official Apple press release:
CUPERTINO, California—March 21, 2001—Apple® today announced that beginning this Saturday, March 24, customers can buy Mac® OS X in retail stores around the world. Mac OS X is the world’s most advanced operating system, combining the power and openness of UNIX with the legendary ease of use and broad applications base of Macintosh®.
“Mac OS X is the most important software from Apple since the original Macintosh operating system in 1984 that revolutionized the entire industry,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We can’t wait for Mac users around the globe to experience its stability, power and elegance.”
Over 350 applications for Mac OS X are shipping today, with hundreds more coming by this summer. More than 10,000 developer organizations around the world are working on over 20,000 Mac OS X applications, including 4D, Aladdin Systems, Alias/Wavefront, Avid, Connectix, Dantz, Digidesign, EarthLink, FileMaker, IBM, Macromedia, Microsoft, MYOB, Palm, Sun, Symantec, and Thursby Software Systems.
Apple will also ship Mac OS X versions of its three most popular applications on March 24, available as free downloads at http://www.apple.com: iMovie™ 2, the world’s most popular and easiest-to-use digital video editing software; iTunes, Apple’s wildly popular “jukebox” software that lets users create and manage their own music library; and a preview version of AppleWorks® 6.1, Apple’s award-winning productivity application.
Mac OS X is built upon an incredibly stable, open source, UNIX-based foundation called Darwin and features true memory protection, preemptive multi-tasking and symmetric multiprocessing when running on the dual processor Power Mac™ G4. Mac OS X includes Apple’s new Quartz™ 2D graphics engine (based on the Internet-standard Portable Document Format) for stunning graphics and broad font support; OpenGL for spectacular 3D graphics and gaming; and QuickTime™ for streaming audio and video. Mac OS X also features an entirely new user interface called Aqua™. Aqua combines superior ease of use with amazing new functionality such as the Dock, a breakthrough for organizing, documents and document windows.
In addition, Mac OS X includes hundreds of new features, such as:
• Dynamic memory management, eliminating “out of memory” messages or need to adjust the memory for applications
• Advanced power management, so that PowerBook® and iBook™ systems wake from sleep instantly
• QuickTime 5, shipping for the first time as an integrated feature of Mac OS X
• Automatic networking, allowing users to get on the Internet using any available network connection, without adjusting settings
• A single interface to easily manage all network and Internet connections, including direct support for DSL systems that require PPPoE connectivity
• Full PDF support and PDF integration into the operating system, so that Mac OS X applications can generate standard PDF documents to be shared with any platform
• Direct support for TrueType, Type 1 and OpenType fonts, and an intuitive and flexible interface for managing fonts and groups of fonts
• More than $1,000 of the best fonts available today, including Baskerville, Herman Zapf’s Zapfino, Futura, and Optima; as well as the highest-quality Japanese fonts available, in the largest character set ever on a personal computer
• iTools integration into Mac OS X, for direct access to iDisk free Internet storage in the Finder and Open/Save dialog boxes, and free IMAP mail for Mac.com email accounts
• Built in support for popular HP, Canon, and Epson printers
• Easy to administer multi-user environment, with access privileges to keep documents secure
• Powerful web development tools and technologies such as WebDAV, XML, Apache and QuickTime
• BSD UNIX services including popular shells, Perl and FTP
• Support for symmetric multi-processing, so that on dual-processor Power Mac G4 systems, both processors are used automatically to deliver up to twice the productivity
• File system and network security including support for Kerberos
• Support for Java 2 Standard Edition built directly into Mac OS X, giving customers access to cross platform applications
Apple’s successful Mac OS X Public Beta, which shipped in September 2000, was instrumental in several key enhancements to the operating system. Apple shipped more than 100,000 copies of Mac OS X Public Beta and received more than 75,000 individual user feedback entries from Mac users and developers worldwide.
To help customers migrate to Mac OS X, Apple iServices will offer several new services, including a comprehensive set of Mac OS X training and certification offerings for Mac OS X system administrators.
Pricing & Availability
Mac OS X will ship with 7 languages—English, Japanese, French, German, Spanish, Italian and Dutch— included on a single CD. In addition, the Mac OS X box will include a full copy of Mac OS 9.1, for running Classic applications, and the Mac OS X Developer Tools CD.
Mac OS X will be available through The Apple Store® (http://www.apple.com) and through Apple Authorized Resellers for a suggested retail price of $129 (US) beginning March 24, 2001.
Mac OS X requires a minimum of 128MB of memory and is designed to run on the following Apple products: iMac™, iBook, Power Macintosh® G3, Power Mac G4, Power Mac G4 Cube and any PowerBook introduced after May 1998.
Press release link: http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2001/mar/21osxstore.html
What is that in cat years?
6 years now and still NO VIRUSES!
It may sound trivial even silly to some other people wishing happy birthday to an operating system, but considering how much time I spend using OS X, how much easier it has made my life, and how much it has helped my career, it isn’t silly at all.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY OS X!!!
And thank you to all the programers and other creative people that made OS X possible. (you to Steve)
When you run out of cat names, will we get Mac OS XI? I think you have only Cougar and Lion left after Leopard (for the commonly recognizable big cats). Lion would be appropriate for the last release. Actually, that timing would be about right for a major transition to the next big thing.
Remember how p a i n f u l l y s l o w it was back then? They’ve done such a good job making it more efficient with every update. Unlike *some* OS’s we know.
It’s NeXTSTEP!!!!
video here
I’m still waiting for Mail to record audio though… 🙁
It’s official… we can now say “Six years and counting! No Viruses, No Adware. No Malware in the wild!”
Happy Birthday OS X!
(magic word – long)
Again, why did they kill Apple Works?
Dynamic memory management, eliminating “out of memory” messages or need to adjust the memory for applications
—
I’m using 15″ MacBook Pro with 2GB RAM and still frequently get OUT OF MEMORY!
It’s amazing how many of those breakthrough features we take for granted these days!
Mac OS X install on one CD? Wow.
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Then again I remember having the Mac system, MacPaint, MacWrite, an Imagewriter driver, and room for a document or two on one 400k floppy. Had to wait 22 years for Aperture though because it wouldn’t fit on a floppy.
@ ken1w
Onza
Lynx
Bobcat
Ocelot
Caracal
Serval
[then there are the cross breeds…]
Tigon
Liger
etc…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panthera_hybrid
Needless to say, Apple could milk this for many many years…
Hano
Baby’s growing up. Gee, MDN, look what you did. You got me all sentimental.
But despite the fact it’s been 6 years, let’s all admit that Mac OS X really kind of, well… sucked until version 10.3. Prior to that, it was terribly slow, lacked some of what we took for granted in Mac OS 9, and was a minor step backward with native applications and device compatibility.
I’d have to say 10.3 was truly the first ready for prime-time Mac OS X which created a reliable, robust, and more innovative set of features for everyday consumer and business usage. Previous versions really ought to be considered more like beta versions if you ask me. With the exception of the nasty influx of viruses that hit Windows XP before SP2, I would have recommended it simply because it had more of what people wanted from an OS at the time.
“Again, why did they kill Apple Works?”
Well, last I looked, it’s still alive but being slowly replaced by iWork. The AppleWorks User Group quite some time ago saw the handwriting on the wall and began to support users of both applications. iWork has a way to go to catch up with AppleWorks’ features, but what it’s doing now it’s doing better and better. I think we can anticipate it being a full blown AW replacement within the next 36 months. Hopefully, it will be an MS Office replacement well before that.
I think it’s a tribute to AppleWorks that it continued to work as long as it has with almost no updates.
Having said all that, I admit I haven’t tried it on my Intel machine. I just assume it still works though, unless someone knows otherwise. It’s long been underestimated by most people in what it’s capable of doing. Only the AWUG seemed to really probe all that it can do.
There is one other cat name……..Pussy!
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Apple could move on to something like the names of sharks since they’ve mostly moved from large cats to larger and more deadly cats (except for Tiger to Leopard)
Who wouldn’t want “Tiger” all over again ? Or Great White, Black Tip, Hammerhead, Mako, or Thresher ?
Or maybe bears ?
Koala (although not really bears), Panda, Sun, Black, Brown, Grizzly, Kodiak, and Polar ?
At least that has some caché beyond just the names of the bars the guys in Seattle hung out in
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I’d have to say 10.3 was truly the first ready for prime-time Mac OS X
I actually consider Tiger the first ready for prime-time Mac OS X. Reason? 10.4 was the first OS X when Apple announced us developers that the API and KPI were final, no more features and interfaces becoming deprecated or broken with the new version. Remember the applications breaking (no more starting) when installing the next Mac OS X version and requiring us developers to issue updates for the apps as well?
Well, those days are gone since Tiger. That is, the first prime-time Mac OS X. And a very good at that too. What we see in Leopard is frankly outstanding job. Leopard is some big leap forward wrt Tiger. Tiger was ready for prime-time. Leopard is ready for professionals big time.
Leopard will be the watershed of Mac OS X adoption. Apple will be compared to “before Leopard” and “after Leopard” penetration. To make male porn stars blush in shame
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> Onza
Lynx
Bobcat
Ocelot
Caracal
Serval
I said “for the commonly recognizable big cats.” After you use Tiger, you are not going to call the next one “serval” or “bobcat.” That would be pathetic. Cougar and Lion are the only non-lame choices left.
BTW, Happy Birthday. If any Mac OS X developers are reading this, you folks do some great work.
Jim: I jumped on the Mac bandwagon late into Jaguar (10.2), and thought that that was a fine OS. Not sure what you think was wrong with it. So I guess I don’t agree with your synopsys that 10.3 was the first Mac OS X version that didn’t “suck”.
That was then this is now and I want Leopard NOW!!!
“Again, why did they kill Apple Works?”
Apparently the name violated a bunch of truth in advertising laws.
tolazytotell,
The Panda is not really a bear either.
Sabre tooth! Pity it’s extinct. Good name for Windows tho’ – long in the tooth.
Just want to add how much I enjoy this site. It’s the only “social” site I visit regularly, and find it as addictive as using my 24″ iMac. Posters here are from several countries and such varied backgrounds that, regardless of the topic of the article, someone here seems to be able to add additional perspective. People like TowerTone and Twisted Mac Freak frequently crack me up, and, of course, I love it when someone takes a troll to the woodshed for a learnin’. Thanks, everyone, for entertainment and insight over the past year-and-a-half that I’ve been coming here.
Reading recommendation of the day: Jamie Whyte’s Crimes Against Logic. It might change the way you argue your points.