Intro to Computers: OSX

I’ve decided to take a break from my socio-political rants to talk about a lighter topic, computers. This will be a three part series talking about the top three Operating Systems: Windows, OSX, and Linux.

Cars have makes and models. The “make” is the manufacturer (like Ford or Honda) and the “model” is the version (like the F150 or the Civic). Successful models then have different generations (for instance the Civic that came out from 1992-1995 was it’s 5th Generation). Operating Systems (also called “OSes”) are similar. Apple makes OSX. OSX is broken down into different versions named after big cats. Tiger, Leopard and Lion are each versions with Lion being the latest. Also like cars, each OS has its own benefits and faults. OSX is usually user friendly. The computers themselves are very sleek and offer a polished look. Apple computers are divided by the software (OSX) and the hardware (Macintosh) and have a market share of a little over 7%. Typically, OSX only works on Mac hardware. Over the last few years a “hackintosh” community has grown that enables users to install OSX on certain non Apple devices, but I’ll talk about that later.  The downsides are that it is far more expensive than other computers and doesn’t offer much game support.

OSX came out in 2001. For the sake of my being lazy, I shan’t talk about Classic Mac OS. OSX offers a Server version and a Desktop Version. It is also based on UNIX. OSX was a huge change from OS 9. It had smooth flowing lines, soft colors, and the Dock. In an effort to maintain unity, Apple released guidelines, so third parties could match their applications to OSX’s overall style.

Programs are installed by dragging the icon to the “Applications” folder. They are uninstalled by simply deleting them. Passwords are required for certain changes, which also limits virus threats. OSX’s claim to fame is it’s rendering abilities. This makes it the ideal choice for graphic arts.

For the different versions, I will simply paraphrase Wikipedia.

Mac OS X v10.1 “Puma” was released in 2001. It had better performance and provided missing features, such as DVD playback. Apple released 10.1 as a 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.

Mac OS X v10.2 “Jaguar”, the first release to use its code name as part of the branding. It brought great performance enhancements, a sleeker look, and many powerful enhancements  including Quartz Extreme for compositing graphics directly on the video card, 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.

Mac OS X v10.3 “Panther” providing much improved performance. It also incorporated the most extensive update yet to the user interface. Panther included new features, including an updated Finder, incorporating a brushed-metal interface, fast user switching, Exposé (Window manager), FileVault, Safari, improved Portable Document Format (PDF) rendering and much greater Microsoft Windows interoperability.

Mac OS X v10.4 “Tiger” contained more than 150 new features. 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. In 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.

Mac OS X v10.5 “Leopard” 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. New features include a new look, 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 and was the final version of Mac OS X to support the PowerPC architecture.

Mac OS X v10.6 “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 are: 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. Mac OS X v10.6 also features Microsoft Exchange Server support for Mail, iCal, and Address Book, new 64-bit technology capable of supporting greater amounts of RAM, an all new QuickTime X with a refreshed user interface and more functionality that used to be only available to QuickTime Pro owners.

Mac OS X v10.7 “Lion” included support for the Mac App Store, and brings many other developments made in Apple’s iOS, such as an easily-navigable display of installed applications, to the Mac. This release removed Rosetta, making it incapable of running PowerPC applications. 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). In addition to this, documents auto-save by default so users don’t have to worry about manually managing their documents.

Once Apple started using Intel processors, the hacking community was able to modify OSX to work on non-Apple hardware. Over the years the process has gone from “you must have a compute science degree” to “I have some free time so let’s do this”. Not all hardware is supported. In fact most isn’t.

In the end, OSX is a very stable system that is marred mostly by it’s price tag.

Next up I finish this three part series with Linux. You can also read about Windows.