OS X

"OSX" redirects here. For other uses, see OSX (disambiguation).

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File:Osx-yosemite-logo.png
File:OS X Yosemite Desktop.png
Developer	Apple Inc.
Written in	Template:Flat list
OS family	Template:Flat list
Working state	Current
Source model	Closed source (with open source components)
Initial release	March 24, 2001 (2001-03-24)
Marketing target	Personal computing
Update method	Template:Plain list
Platforms	Template:Plain list
Kernel type	Hybrid (XNU)
Default user interface	Graphical (Aqua)
License	Commercial software proprietary software
Preceded by	Mac OS 9
Official website	www.apple.com/osx

Simplified history of Unix-like operating systems

OS X (pronounced /ˌoʊ ɛs ˈtɛn/; originally Mac OS X) is a series of Unix-based graphical interface operating systems developed and marketed by Apple Inc. It is designed to run on Mac computers, having been pre-installed on all Macs since 2002. It was the successor to Mac OS 9, released in 1999, the final release of the "classic" Mac OS, which had been Apple's primary operating system since 1984. The first version released was Mac OS X Server 1.0 in 1999, and a desktop version, Mac OS X v10.0 "Cheetah" followed on March 24, 2001. Previous releases of OS X were named after big cats; for example, OS X v10.8 was referred to as "Mountain Lion". However, with the announcement of OS X Mavericks in June 2013, this was dropped in favor of Californian landmarks. Within the market of desktop, laptop and home computers, and by web usage, OS X is the second most widely used OS after Windows.

OS X, whose X is the Roman numeral for 10 and is a prominent part of its brand identity, is built on technologies developed at NeXT between the second half of the 1980s and Apple's purchase of the company in late 1996. The 'X' is also used to emphasize the relatedness between OS X and UNIX. Versions 10.5 "Leopard" running on Intel processors, 10.6 "Snow Leopard", 10.7 "Lion", 10.8 "Mountain Lion", 10.9 "Mavericks", and 10.10 "Yosemite" have obtained UNIX 03 certification. iOS, which runs on the iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, and the 2nd and 3rd generation Apple TV, shares the Darwin core and many frameworks with OS X. An unnamed variant of v10.4 powered the first generation Apple TV.

Early versions of Mac OS X were compiled to run on the PowerPC CPUs used by Macs of the period. After Apple announced it would shift to using Intel x86 CPUs from 2006 onwards, Tiger and Leopard were released in versions for Intel and PowerPC processors. Snow Leopard was the first version released only for Intel Macs. Since the release of Mac OS X 10.7 "Lion", OS X has dropped support for 32-bit Intel processors as well. It now runs exclusively on 64-bit Intel CPUs.

Apple offers an application for OS X called OS X Server, for use on servers. It includes tools to facilitate management of workgroups of OS X machines, and to provide network services. It is sold separately through the Mac App Store as a single application; it remained sold up to 2014 preinstalled on dedicated server computers. Before the release of Mac OS X 10.7 "Lion", a separate edition of Mac OS X, called Mac OS X Server, with additional tools bundled with the operating system was sold and was preinstalled on servers.

The latest version of OS X is 10.10 Yosemite, which was released to the public on October 16, 2014.

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History

Main article: History of OS X

OS X is based upon the Mach kernel, developed at Carnegie Mellon University. Certain parts of FreeBSD's and NetBSD's were also incorporated into NeXTSTEP, which forms the core of Mac OS X. NeXTSTEP was a graphical, object-oriented, and UNIX-based operating system developed at NeXT, a company founded by Steve Jobs' following his departure from Apple in 1985. Throughout the early 1990s, Apple tried to create a "next-generation" OS through the Taligent, Copland and Gershwin projects, although these were eventually abandoned. This led Apple to purchase NeXT in 1996, allowing NeXTSTEP, then called OPENSTEP, to serve as the basis for Apple's next OS. This also led to Steve Jobs returning to Apple as interim CEO, and later CEO, shepherding the transformation of the programmer-friendly OPENSTEP into a system that would be adopted by Apple's primary market of home users and creative professionals. The project was first known as Rhapsody and was later renamed to Mac OS X.

Mac OS X originally ran on PowerPC-based Macs. In 2006, the first Intel Macs had a specialized version of 10.4 "Tiger". In 2007, 10.5 "Leopard" was the first to run on both PowerPC and Intel Macs with the use of Universal Binaries. 10.6 "Snow Leopard" was the first version of OS X to drop support for PowerPC Macs.Template:Fix

Mac OS X Server 1.x was incompatible with software designed for the original Mac OS and had no support for Apple's own IEEE 1394 (FireWire) interface. Mac OS X 10.x included more backward compatibility through Classic and more functionality by introducing the Carbon API as well as FireWire support. As the operating system evolved, it moved away from the legacy Mac OS to an emphasis on new "digital lifestyle" applications such as the iLife suite, enhanced business applications (iWork), and integrated home entertainment (the Front Row media center). Each version also included modifications to the general interface, such as the brushed metal appearance added in version 10.3, the non-pinstriped titlebar appearance in version 10.4, and in 10.5 the removal of the previous brushed metal styles in favor of the "Unified" gradient window style.

In 2012, with the release of OS X 10.8, the "Mac" prefix was officially dropped in all references to the operating system name within its web site.

Description

OS X is the tenth major version of Apple's operating system for Macintosh computers. Previous Macintosh operating systems were named using Arabic numerals, e.g. Mac OS 8 and Mac OS 9. The letter X in OS X's name refers to the number 10, a Roman numeral. It is therefore correctly pronounced "ten" /ˈtɛn/ in this context. However, a common mispronunciation is "X" /ˈɛks/.

OS X's core is a POSIX compliant operating system (OS) built on top of the XNU kernel, with standard Unix facilities available from the command line interface. Apple has released this family of software as a free and open source operating system named Darwin. On top of Darwin, Apple layered a number of components, including the Aqua interface and the Finder, to complete the GUI-based operating system which is OS X.

OS X introduced a number of new capabilities to provide a more stable and reliable platform than its predecessor, Mac OS 9. For example, pre-emptive multitasking and memory protection improved the system's ability to run multiple applications simultaneously without them interrupting or corrupting each other. Many aspects of OS X's architecture are derived from OPENSTEP, which was designed to be portable, to ease the transition from one platform to another. For example, NeXTSTEP was ported from the original 68k-based NeXT workstations to x86 and other architectures before NeXT was purchased by Apple, and OPENSTEP was later ported to the PowerPC architecture as part of the Rhapsody project.

The most visible change was the Aqua theme. The use of soft edges, translucent colors, and pinstripes—similar to the hardware design of the first iMacs—brought more texture and color to the user interface when compared to what OS 9 and OS X Server 1.0's "Platinum" appearance had offered. According to John Siracusa, an editor of Ars Technica, the introduction of Aqua and its departure from the then conventional look "hit like a ton of bricks." Bruce Tognazzini (who founded the original Apple Human Interface Group) said that the Aqua interface in Mac OS X v10.0 represented a step backwards in usability compared with the original Mac OS interface. Third-party developers started producing skins for customizable applications and other operating systems which mimicked the Aqua appearance. To some extent, Apple has used the successful transition to this new design as leverage, at various times threatening legal action against people who make or distribute software with an interface the company says is derived from its copyrighted design.

The architecture of OS X incorporates a layered design. The layered frameworks aid rapid development of applications by providing existing code for common tasks.

OS X includes its own software development tools, most prominently an integrated development environment called Xcode. Xcode provides interfaces to compilers that support several programming languages including C, C++, Objective-C, and Java. For the Apple–Intel transition, it was modified so that developers could build their applications as a universal binary, which provides compatibility with both the Intel-based and PowerPC-based Macintosh lines. First and third-party applications can be controlled programatically using the AppleScript framework, retained from classic Mac OS, or using the newer Automator application.Template:Fix

The Darwin sub-system in Mac OS X is in charge of managing the filesystem, which includes the Unix permissions layer. In 2003 and 2005, two Macworld editors expressed criticism of the permission scheme; Ted Landau called misconfigured permissions "the most common frustration" in Mac OS X, while Rob Griffiths suggested that some users may even have to reset permissions every day, a process which can take up to 15 minutes. More recently, another Macworld editor, Dan Frakes, called the procedure of repairing permissions vastly overused. He argues that OS X typically handles permissions properly without user interference, and resetting permissions should just be tried when problems emerge.

Mac applications may be installed by the user from any source, or from the Mac App Store, a marketplace of software maintained by Apple. All App Store applications run within a 'sandbox', restricting their ability to communicate with other programs or modify the core operating system. This provides increased user security but restricts the features they can offer.

Distribution and languages

See also: Usage share of operating systems

As of September 2011, OS X is the second-most-active general-purpose client operating system in use on the World Wide Web, (after Microsoft Windows), with an 8.45% usage share according to statistics compiled by W3Counter. It is the most successful Unix-like desktop operating system on the web, estimated at over 5 times the usage of Linux (which has 1.5%).

There are twenty-two "System Languages" available for the user at the moment of installation (the "system language" is the entire operating system environment). As of Mac OS X Lion, the languages are Arabic, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese (Brazilian), Portuguese (European), Russian, Spanish, Swedish and Turkish. Input methods for typing in dozens of scripts can be chosen independently of the system language.

Compatibility

Software

The APIs that OS X inherited from OpenStep are not backward compatible with earlier versions of Mac OS. These APIs were created as the result of a 1993 collaboration between NeXT Computer and Sun Microsystems and are now referred to by Apple as Cocoa. This heritage is highly visible for Cocoa developers, since the "NS" prefix is ubiquitous in the framework, standing variously for Nextstep or NeXT/Sun. The official OpenStep API, published in September 1994, was the first to split the API between Foundation and Application Kit and the first to use the "NS" prefix. Apple's Rhapsody project would have required all new development to use these APIs, causing much outcry among existing Mac developers. All Mac software that did not receive a complete rewrite to the new framework would run in the equivalent of the Classic environment. To permit a smooth transition from Mac OS 9 to (Mac) OS X, the Carbon Application Programming Interface (API) was created. Applications written with Carbon can be executed natively on both systems. Carbon was not included in the first product sold as "Mac OS X": Mac OS X Server (now referred to as Mac OS X Server 1.x).Template:Fix

OS X also used to support the Java Platform as a "preferred software package"—in practice this means that applications written in Java fit as neatly into the operating system as possible while still being cross-platform compatible, and that graphical user interfaces written in Swing look almost exactly like native Cocoa interfaces. Traditionally, Cocoa programs have been mostly written in Objective-C, with Java as an alternative. However, on July 11, 2005, Apple announced that "features added to Cocoa in Mac OS X versions later than 10.4 will not be added to the Cocoa-Java programming interface."

Since OS X is POSIX compliant, many software packages written for the *BSDs, Linux, or other Unix-like systems can be recompiled to run on it. Projects such as Homebrew, Fink, MacPorts and pkgsrc provide pre-compiled or pre-formatted packages. From version 10.3 to version 10.7, OS X included X11.app, Apple's version of the X Window System graphical interface for Unix applications, as an optional component during installation. Up to and including Mac OS X v10.4 (Tiger), Apple's implementation was based on the X11 Licensed XFree86 4.3 and X11R6.6. All bundled versions of X11 feature a window manager which is similar to the OS X look-and-feel and has fairly good integration with Mac OS X, also using the native Quartz rendering system. Earlier versions of OS X (in which X11 has not been bundled) can also run X11 applications using XDarwin. With the introduction of version 10.5 Apple switched to the X.org variant of X11. Version Mac OS X 10.7 "Lion" uses X.org Server version 1.10.x Starting with OS X Mountain Lion, X11 is not bundled in OS X; instead, it has to be installed from, for example, the open source XQuartz project.

Hardware

For the early releases of Mac OS X, the standard hardware platform supported was the full line of Macintosh computers (laptop, desktop, or server) based on PowerPC G3, G4, and G5 processors. Later versions discontinued support for some older hardware; for example, Panther does not support "beige" G3s, and Tiger does not support systems that pre-date Apple's introduction of integrated FireWire ports (the ports themselves are not a functional requirement). Mac OS X v10.5 "Leopard", introduced October 2007, has dropped support for all PowerPC G3 processors and for PowerPC G4 processors with clock rates below 867 MHz. Mac OS X v10.6 "Snow Leopard" supports Macs with Intel processors, not PowerPC. Mac OS X 10.7 "Lion" requires a Mac with an Intel Core 2 Duo or newer processor.Template:Fix

Tools such as XPostFacto and patches applied to the installation disc have been developed by third parties to enable installation of newer versions of Mac OS X on systems not officially supported by Apple. This includes a number of pre-G3 Power Macintosh systems that can be made to run up to and including Mac OS X 10.2 Jaguar, all G3-based Macs which can run up to and including Tiger, and sub-867 MHz G4 Macs can run Leopard by removing the restriction from the installation DVD or entering a command in the Mac's Open Firmware interface to tell the Leopard Installer that it has a clock rate of 867 MHz or greater. Except for features requiring specific hardware (e.g. graphics acceleration, DVD writing), the operating system offers the same functionality on all supported hardware.Template:Fix

PowerPC versions of Mac OS X prior to Leopard retain compatibility with older Mac OS applications by providing an emulation environment called Classic, which allows users to run Mac OS 9 as a process within Mac OS X, so that most older applications run as they would under the older operating system. Classic is not supported on Intel-based Macs or in Mac OS X v10.5 "Leopard", but users still requiring Classic applications on Intel Macs can use the SheepShaver emulator to run Mac OS 9 on top of Leopard.Template:Fix

PowerPC–Intel transition

File:Steve Jobs Presentation 1.jpg

Steve Jobs talks about the transition to Intel processors.

Main article: Apple's transition to Intel processors

In April 2002, eWeek announced a rumor that Apple had a version of Mac OS X code-named Marklar, which ran on Intel x86 processors. The idea behind Marklar was to keep Mac OS X running on an alternative platform should Apple become dissatisfied with the progress of the PowerPC platform. These rumors subsided until late in May 2005, when various media outlets, such as The Wall Street Journal and CNET, announced that Apple would unveil Marklar in the coming months.

On June 6, 2005, Steve Jobs confirmed these rumors when he announced in his keynote address at the annual Apple Worldwide Developers Conference that Apple would be making the transition from PowerPC to Intel processors over the following two years, and that Mac OS X would support both platforms during the transition. Jobs also confirmed rumors that Apple had versions of Mac OS X running on Intel processors for most of its developmental life. The last time that Apple switched CPU families—from the Motorola 68K CPU to the IBM/Motorola PowerPC—Apple included a Motorola 68K emulator in the new OS that made almost all 68K software work automatically on the new hardware. Apple had supported the 68K emulator for 11 years, but stopped supporting it during the transition to Intel CPUs. Included in the new OS for the Intel-based Macs is Rosetta, a binary translation layer which enables software compiled for PowerPC Mac OS X to run on Intel Mac OS X machines. Apple dropped support for Classic mode on the new Intel Macs. Third party emulation software such as Mini vMac, Basilisk II and SheepShaver provides support for some early versions of Mac OS. A new version of Xcode and the underlying command-line compilers support building universal binaries that will run on either architecture.

PowerPC-only software is supported with Rosetta, though applications may have to be rewritten to run properly on the newer OS X for Intel. Apple initially encouraged developers to produce universal binaries with support for both PowerPC and x86. There is a performance penalty when PowerPC binaries run on Intel Macs through Rosetta. Moreover, some PowerPC software, such as kernel extensions and System Preferences plugins, are not supported on Intel Macs. Some PowerPC applications would not run on Intel OS X at all. Plugins for Safari need to be compiled for the same platform as Safari, so when Safari is running on Intel it requires plug-ins that have been compiled as Intel-only or universal binaries, so PowerPC-only plug-ins will not work. While Intel Macs are able to run PowerPC, x86, and universal binaries; PowerPC Macs support only universal and PowerPC builds.Template:Fix

Support for the PowerPC platform was dropped after Mac OS X 10.5. Such cross-platform capability already existed in Mac OS X's lineage; OpenStep was ported to many architectures, including x86, and Darwin included support for both PowerPC and x86. Apple stated that Mac OS X would not run on Intel-based personal computers aside from its own, but a hacked version of the OS compatible with conventional x86 hardware was developed by the OSx86 community.

On June 8, 2009, Apple announced at its Worldwide Developers Conference that Snow Leopard (version 10.6) would drop support for PowerPC processors and be Intel-only. However, Rosetta is still available in Snow Leopard; it is not installed by default, but it is available on the installation DVD as an installable add-on and is installed automatically via the Internet when first attempting to run a PowerPC-based application.Template:Fix

On all versions from (and including) Lion, Rosetta is no longer available.Template:Fix

Features

One of the major differences between the previous versions of Mac OS and OS X was the addition of the Aqua GUI, a graphical user interface with water-like elements. Every window element, text, graphic, or widget is drawn on-screen using spatial anti-aliasing technology. ColorSync, a technology introduced many years before, was improved and built into the core drawing engine, to provide color matching for printing and multimedia professionals. Also, drop shadows were added around windows and isolated text elements to provide a sense of depth. New interface elements were integrated, including sheets (document modal dialog boxes attached to specific windows) and drawers.Template:Fix

Apple has continued to change aspects of the OS X appearance and design, particularly with tweaks to the appearance of windows and the menu bar. One example of a UI behavioral change is that previewed video and audio files no longer have progress bars in column view; instead, they have mouse-over start and stop buttons as of 10.5.Template:Fix

The human interface guidelines published by Apple for Mac OS X are followed by many applications, giving them consistent user interface and keyboard shortcuts. In addition, new services for applications are included, which include spelling and grammar checkers, special characters palette, color picker, font chooser and dictionary; these global features are present in every Cocoa application, adding consistency. The graphics system OpenGL composites windows onto the screen to allow hardware-accelerated drawing. This technology, introduced in version 10.2, is called Quartz Extreme, a component of Quartz. Quartz's internal imaging model correlates well with the Portable Document Format (PDF) imaging model, making it easy to output PDF to multiple devices. As a side result, PDF viewing and creating PDF documents from any application are built-in features.

In version 10.3, Apple added Exposé, a feature which includes three functions to help accessibility between windows and desktop. Its functions are to instantly display all open windows as thumbnails for easy navigation to different tasks, display all open windows as thumbnails from the current application, and hide all windows to access the desktop. Also, FileVault was introduced, which is an optional encryption of the user's files with Advanced Encryption Standard (AES-128).

Features introduced in version 10.4 include Automator, an application designed to create an automatic workflow for different tasks; Dashboard, a full-screen group of small applications called desktop widgets that can be called up and dismissed in one keystroke; and Front Row, a media viewer interface accessed by the Apple Remote. Moreover, the Sync Services were included, which is a system that allows applications to access a centralized extensible database for various elements of user data, including calendar and contact items. The operating system then managed conflicting edits and data consistency.

As of version 10.5, all system icons are scalable up to 512×512 pixels, to accommodate various places where they appear in larger size, including for example the Cover Flow view, a three-dimensional graphical user interface included with iTunes, the Finder, and other Apple products for visually skimming through files and digital media libraries via cover artwork. This version includes Spaces, a virtual desktop implementation which enables the user to have more than one desktop and display them in an Exposé-like interface. Mac OS X v10.5 includes an automatic backup technology called Time Machine, which provides the ability to view and restore previous versions of files and application data; and Screen Sharing was built in for the first time.

Finder is a file browser allowing quick access to all areas of the computer, which has been modified throughout subsequent releases of Mac OS X. Quick Look is part of Mac OS X Leopard's Finder. It allows for dynamic previews of files, including videos and multi-page documents, without opening their parent applications. Spotlight search technology, which is integrated into the Finder since Mac OS X Tiger, allows rapid real-time searches of data files; mail messages; photos; and other information based on item properties (meta data) and/or content. Mac OS X makes use of a Dock, which holds file and folder shortcuts as well as minimized windows.

Versions

Mac OS X version information

Version	Codename	Date announced	Release date	Most recent version
Rhapsody Developer Release	Grail1Z4 / Titan1U		August 31, 1997	DR2 (May 14, 1998)
Mac OS X Server 1.0	Hera		March 16, 1999	1.2v3 (October 27, 2000)
Mac OS X Developer Preview		May 11, 1998	March 16, 1999	DP4 (April 5, 2000)
Public Beta	Kodiak		September 13, 2000
Mac OS X 10.0	Cheetah		March 24, 2001	10.0.4 (June 22, 2001)
Mac OS X 10.1	Puma	July 18, 2001	September 25, 2001	10.1.5 (June 6, 2002)
Mac OS X 10.2	Jaguar	May 6, 2002	August 24, 2002	10.2.8 (October 3, 2003)
Mac OS X 10.3	Panther	June 23, 2003	October 24, 2003	10.3.9 (April 15, 2005)
Mac OS X 10.4	Tiger	May 4, 2004	April 29, 2005	10.4.11 (November 14, 2007)
Mac OS X 10.5	Leopard	June 26, 2006	October 26, 2007	10.5.8 (August 5, 2009)
Mac OS X 10.6	Snow Leopard	June 9, 2008	August 28, 2009	10.6.8 v1.1 (July 25, 2011)
Mac OS X 10.7	Lion	October 20, 2010	July 20, 2011	10.7.5 (September 19, 2012)
OS X 10.8	Mountain Lion	February 16, 2012	July 25, 2012	10.8.5 (12F45) (October 3, 2013)
OS X 10.9	Mavericks	June 10, 2013	October 22, 2013	10.9.5 (13F34) (September 18, 2014)
OS X 10.10	Yosemite	June 2, 2014	October 16, 2014	10.10.2 (14C109) (January 27, 2015)

With the exception of Mac OS X Server 1.0 and the original public beta, OS X versions were named after big cats until version 10.9, when Apple switched to using California locations. Prior to its release, version 10.0 was code named "Cheetah" internally at Apple, and version 10.1 was code named internally as "Puma". After the immense buzz surrounding version 10.2, codenamed "Jaguar", Apple's product marketing began openly using the code names to promote the operating system. 10.3 was marketed as "Panther", 10.4 as "Tiger", 10.5 as "Leopard", 10.6 as "Snow Leopard", 10.7 as "Lion", 10.8 as "Mountain Lion", and 10.9 as "Mavericks". "Panther", "Tiger" and "Leopard" are registered as trademarks of Apple, but "Cheetah", "Puma" and "Jaguar" have never been registered. Apple has also registered "Lynx" and "Cougar" as trademarks, though these were allowed to lapse. Computer retailer Tiger Direct sued Apple for its use of the name "Tiger". On May 16, 2005 a US federal court in the Southern District of Florida ruled that Apple's use did not infringe on Tiger Direct's trademark.

Public Beta: "Kodiak"

Main article: Mac OS X Public Beta

On September 13, 2000 Apple released a $29.95 "preview" version of Mac OS X (internally codenamed Kodiak) in order to gain feedback from users.

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.

Version 10.0: "Cheetah"

Main article: Mac OS X v10.0

On March 24, 2001, Apple released Mac OS X v10.0 (internally codenamed Cheetah). The initial version was slow, incomplete, and had very few applications available at the time of its launch, mostly from independent developers. While many critics suggested that the operating system was not ready for mainstream adoption, they recognized the importance of its initial launch as a base on which to improve. Simply releasing Mac OS X was received by the Macintosh community as a great accomplishment, for attempts to completely overhaul the Mac OS had been underway since 1996, and delayed by countless setbacks. Following some bug fixes, kernel panics became much less frequent.Template:Fix

Version 10.1: "Puma"

Main article: Mac OS X v10.1

Later that year on September 25, 2001, Mac OS X v10.1 (internally codenamed Puma) was released. It featured increased performance and provided missing features, such as DVD playback. Apple released 10.1 as a free upgrade CD for 10.0 users, in addition to the US$129 boxed version for people running Mac OS 9. It was discovered that the upgrade CDs were full install CDs that could be used with Mac OS 9 systems by removing a specific file; Apple later re-released the CDs in an actual stripped-down format that did not facilitate installation on such systems. On January 7, 2002, Apple announced that Mac OS X was to be the default operating system for all Macintosh products by the end of that month.

Version 10.2: "Jaguar"

Main article: Mac OS X v10.2

On August 23, 2002, Apple followed up with Mac OS X v10.2 "Jaguar", the first release to use its code name as part of the branding. It brought great raw performance improvements, a sleeker look, and many powerful user-interface enhancements (over 150, according to Apple ), including Quartz Extreme for compositing graphics directly on an ATI Radeon or Nvidia GeForce2 MX AGP-based video card with at least 16 MB of VRAM, a system-wide repository for contact information in the new Address Book, and an instant messaging client named iChat. The Happy Mac which had appeared during the Mac OS startup sequence for almost 18 years was replaced with a large grey Apple logo with the introduction of Mac OS X v10.2.

Version 10.3: "Panther"

Main article: Mac OS X Panther

Mac OS X v10.3 "Panther" was released on October 24, 2003. In addition to providing much improved performance, it also incorporated the most extensive update yet to the user interface. Panther included as many or more new features as Jaguar had the year before, including an updated Finder, incorporating a brushed-metal interface, Fast user switching, Exposé (Window manager), FileVault, Safari, iChat AV (which added videoconferencing features to iChat), improved Portable Document Format (PDF) rendering and much greater Microsoft Windows interoperability. Support for some early G3 computers such as "beige" Power Macs and "WallStreet" PowerBooks was discontinued.Template:Fix

Version 10.4: "Tiger"

Main article: Mac OS X Tiger

File:TigerDesk.png

Screenshot of Tiger

Mac OS X v10.4 "Tiger" was released on April 29, 2005. Apple stated that Tiger contained more than 200 new features. As with Panther, certain older machines were no longer supported; Tiger requires a Mac with 256MB and a built-in FireWire port. Among the new features, Tiger introduced Spotlight, Dashboard, Smart Folders, updated Mail program with Smart Mailboxes, QuickTime 7, Safari 2, Automator, VoiceOver, Core Image and Core Video. The initial release of the Apple TV used a modified version of Tiger with a different graphical interface and fewer applications and services. On January 10, 2006, Apple released the first Intel-based Macs along with the 10.4.4 update to Tiger. This operating system functioned identically on the PowerPC-based Macs and the new Intel-based machines, with the exception of the Intel release dropping support for the Classic environment.

Version 10.5: "Leopard"

Main article: Mac OS X Leopard

Mac OS X v10.5 "Leopard" was released on October 26, 2007. It was called by Apple "the largest update of Mac OS X". It brought more than 300 new features. Leopard supports both PowerPC- and Intel x86-based Macintosh computers; support for the G3 processor was dropped and the G4 processor required a minimum clock rate of 867 MHz, and at least 512 MB of RAM to be installed. The single DVD works for all supported Macs (including 64-bit machines). New features include a new look, an updated Finder, Time Machine, Spaces, Boot Camp pre-installed, full support for 64-bit applications (including graphical applications), new features in Mail and iChat, and a number of new security features. Leopard is an Open Brand UNIX 03 registered product on the Intel platform. It was also the first BSD-based OS to receive UNIX 03 certification. Leopard dropped support for the Classic Environment and all Classic applications. It was the final version of Mac OS X to support the PowerPC architecture.

Version 10.6: "Snow Leopard"

Main article: Mac OS X Snow Leopard

Mac OS X v10.6 "Snow Leopard" was released on August 28, 2009. Rather than delivering big changes to the appearance and end user functionality like the previous releases of Mac OS X, Snow Leopard focused on "under the hood" changes, increasing the performance, efficiency, and stability of the operating system. For most users, the most noticeable changes were: the disk space that the operating system frees up after a clean install compared to Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, a more responsive Finder rewritten in Cocoa, faster Time Machine backups, more reliable and user friendly disk ejects, a more powerful version of the Preview application, as well as a faster Safari web browser. Snow Leopard only supported machines with Intel CPUs, required at least 1 GB of RAM, and dropped default support for applications built for the PowerPC architecture (Rosetta could be installed as an additional component to retain support for PowerPC-only applications).

Mac OS X v10.6 also featured new 64-bit technology capable of supporting greater amounts of RAM, improved support for multi-core processors through Grand Central Dispatch, and advanced GPU performance with OpenCL.Template:Fix

An update introduced support for the Mac App Store, Apple's digital distribution platform for OS X applications.

File:WWDC 2011 Moscone West Interior.jpg

Mac OS X Lion was announced at WWDC 2011 at Moscone West.

Version 10.7: "Lion"

Main article: Mac OS X Lion

Mac OS X v10.7 "Lion" was released on July 20, 2011. It brought developments made in Apple's iOS, such as an easily navigable display of installed applications (Launchpad) and a greater use of multi-touch gestures, to the Mac. This release removed Rosetta, making it incapable of running PowerPC applications.Template:Fix

Changes made to the GUI (Graphical User Interface) include the Launchpad (similar to the home screen of iOS devices), auto-hiding scrollbars that only appear when they are being used, and Mission Control, which unifies Exposé, Spaces, Dashboard, and full-screen applications within a single interface. Apple also made changes to applications: they resume in the same state as they were before they were closed (similar to iOS). Documents auto-save by default.Template:Fix

Version 10.8: "Mountain Lion"

Main article: OS X Mountain Lion

OS X v10.8 "Mountain Lion" was released on July 25, 2012. It incorporates some features seen in iOS 5, which include Game Center, support for iMessage in the new Messages messaging application, and Reminders as a to-do list app separate from iCal (which is renamed as Calendar, like the iOS app). It also includes support for storing iWork documents in iCloud. Notification Center, which makes its debut in Mountain Lion, is a desktop version similar to the one in iOS 5.0 and higher. Application pop-ups are now concentrated on the corner of the screen, and the Center itself is pulled from the right side of the screen. Mountain Lion also includes more Chinese features including support for Baidu as an option for Safari search engine, QQ, 163.com and 126.com services for Mail, Contacts and Calendar, Youku, Tudou and Sina Weibo are integrated into share sheets.

Starting with Mountain Lion Apple software updates (including the OS) are distributed via the App Store. This updating mechanism replaced the Apple Software Update utility.

File:Macintosh OS X Mavericks representation.png

A screenshot of OS X Mavericks

Version 10.9: "Mavericks"

Main article: OS X Mavericks

OS X 10.9 "Mavericks" was released on October 22, 2013. This is a free upgrade to all users running OS X Snow Leopard or later. Its changes include the addition of the previously iOS-only Maps and iBooks applications, improvements to the Notification Center, enhancements to several applications, and many under-the-hood improvements.

Version 10.10: "Yosemite"

Main article: OS X Yosemite

OS X 10.10 "Yosemite" was released on October 16, 2014. Apple's showcase new feature in Yosemite is Handoff, which enables users with iPhones running iOS 8.1 or later to answer phone calls, receive and send SMS messages, and complete unfinished iPhone emails on their Mac.

Updating methods

OS X can be updated using the Mac App Store. Until OS X Mountain Lion, the updating method was to use the Apple Software Update.

Software Update is a software tool by Apple Inc. that installs the latest version of Apple software on computers running OS X. It was originally introduced to Mac users in Mac OS 9. A Windows version has been available since the introduction of iTunes 7, under the name Apple Software Update. Software Update automatically informs users of new updates. The program is part of the CoreServices in OS X. Software Update can be set to check for updates daily, weekly, monthly, or not at all; in addition, it can download and store the associated .pkg file (the same type used by Installer) to be installed at a later date and maintains a history of installed updates. Software Updates consist of incremental updates of the Mac OS and its applications, Security Updates, device drivers and firmware updates. All software updates require the user to enter their administrative password, as with all consequential system changes. Some updates require a system restart. Starting with OS X 10.5, updates that require a reboot log out the user prior to installation and automatically restart the computer when complete; in earlier versions, the updates are installed, but critical files are not replaced until the next system startup. As of OS X Mountain Lion, Software Update has been merged into the Mac App Store.

The Mac App Store was first released in Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.6 on January 6, 2011. The App Store included many applications such as Angry Birds, IWork '09, iLife '11 and Twitter for Mac. On November 3, 2010, Apple was accepting some applications from registered developers for the App Store to include, in preparation for its launch. However, the App Store did not accept applications that required PowerPC code that would be run by Rosetta or if applications required Java SE 6. After 24 hours from release, Apple announced there were one million downloads.

See also

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• A/UX
• MkLinux
• Comparison of BSD operating systems
• Comparison of operating systems
• List of OS X technologies
• List of Macintosh software
• List of operating systems
• Market share of operating systems
• Dock (OS X)

External links

• Template:Official website – official website at Apple
• Downloads page – listings for third party OS X software at Apple
• 22. October 2013, Poornima Gupta, Edwin Chan: Apple gives away Mac software, unveils iPad Air, reuters.com

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