Today, Apple has the largest and most diverse product ecosystem in history. From smartphones to
tablets to smart watches, we’ve never seen Apple compete in so many industries simultaneously.
But with all these new products, it’s easy to forget that Apple started as a computer company.
And their Macintosh operating system, also known as macOS,
has been around since 1984. So in this video, we’re going to explore the history of macOS,
and find out how it’s grown and evolved over the past four decades.
This is Greg with Apple Explained and I want to thank Squarespace for sponsoring this video.
Now as I mentioned, the beginnings of MacOS goes all the way back to 1984.
That’s when Apple introduced the Macintosh, which was the first commercial computer to
feature a graphical user interface and mouse. This made the machines much easier to use and
more accessible to people who may not be interested in technology. In fact,
Apple's goal was to create a computer with appliance-like simplicity. And for that reason,
there was no distinction made between the operating system software and the hardware it ran
on. That meant early versions of Mac OS didn’t have specific names. So to keep things simple,
people began using system file version numbers to differentiate between the various OS iterations.
First, there was Macintosh System Software 1 in 1984. It was introduced with the original
Macintosh computer, which received one of the longest applause breaks in recorded history. This
initial version was simply called Macintosh System Software, although a ‘one’ was later added to the
end as more iterations were released. System 1 introduced some incredibly powerful features
that remain a crucial part of macOS to this day. Some of those included the Finder, a file manager
responsible for launching applications and the overall user management of files, disks,
and network volumes. The menu bar was also a new and revolutionary part of the operating system. It
had 5 basic headers when on the desktop: the Apple menu, File, Edit, View, and Special. Although the
menu bar options would change depending on the application in use. System 1 also featured seven
desk accessories like the Alarm Clock, a basic 10 button Calculator, a Control Panel, Key Caps, a
Note Pad, a 15 piece slide Puzzle, and Scrapbook, which was like a cut, copy, and paste library.
The difference between desktop accessories and applications was that multiple desktop
accessories could be run simultaneously, but only one application could run at a time. This is due
to the limited RAM included with Macintosh and the lack of an internal hard disk. Also, items in the
Trash were permanently deleted when the computer was shut down or a new application was loaded.
System 2 added support for AppleTalk which allowed a local network of
Macintosh computers to be connected without the need for a centralized router or server.
It also introduced support for the LaserWriter and added a Hierarchical
File System which allowed file directories to be searched quickly regardless of size.
System 3.0 was introduced with the Macintosh Plus, officially implementing HFS, 800K
startup drives, support for several new technologies including SCSI and AppleShare.
System 4.0 was released with the Macintosh SE and System 4.1 shipped with the Macintosh
II—these new machines required additional software support for their new expansion slots,
Apple Desktop Bus, internal hard drives, external color displays and the first Motorola processor.
Towards the end of 1987, Apple introduced a package titled Apple Macintosh System Software
Update 5.0. For the first time, the Macintosh operating system was offered as a distinct retail
product that included four 800K disks and three manuals at a cost of $49 USD. The main feature
of System 5 was MultiFinder, an extension which let the system run several applications at once,
and Installer, a tool that could be used to update a previous System folder to a new version.
System Software 5 was available for a short time and only in select countries. System Software
6 served as a consolidation release of the Macintosh system software, producing a complete,
stable, and long-lasting operating system. One of the few features introduced in System 6 was
a utility called MacroMaker. It allowed users to record mouse and keyboard inputs. In 1991,
System 7 was released. It was a major upgrade that added a user interface overhaul, new applications,
stability improvements and many new features like built-in cooperative multitasking and the ability
to create aliases, similar to shortcuts that were introduced in later versions of Microsoft Windows.
Mac OS 8 was released in 1997, shortly after Steve Jobs returned to the company. It was
mainly released to keep the Mac OS moving forward during a difficult time for Apple. Initially
planned as Mac OS 7.7, it was renumbered "8" to exploit a legal loophole and accomplish Jobs's
goal of ending third-party licensing of System 7 and shutting down the Macintosh clone market.
Mac OS 8 added a number of features from the abandoned Copland project,
while leaving the underlying operating system unchanged. A multi-threaded Finder was included;
so files could be copied in the background. The GUI was changed to a new shaded greyscale look
named Platinum, and the ability to change the appearance themes (also known as skins)
was added with a new control panel (though Platinum was the only theme shipped).
Apple sold 1.2 million copies of Mac OS 8 in its first two weeks and 3 million within six months.
Because of Apple's financial difficulties at the time, there was a large grassroots movement among
Mac users to upgrade and "help save Apple". Even some pirate groups refused to redistribute the OS.
Mac OS 9, the last major revision of the early Macintosh operating system,
was released in 1999. It added improved support for AirPort wireless networking which allowed
users to access the internet quickly and easily. Since it’s popularity was exploding during this
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Alright now along with the wireless internet capabilities of Mac OS 9,
it also added some transitional technologies to help application developers adopt some Mac OS X
features before the introduction of the new OS to the public to help ease the transition. The final
update to the classic Macintosh Operating System was version 9.2.2, released at the end of 2001.
Now it was during this transition period when Apple revealed Mac OS X for the first time
at the Macworld Expo in 2000. It was a radical change from the previous version,
featuring an entirely new user interface called Aqua, which was influenced by the shiny,
colorful iMac and iBook. Jobs said the design goal of Aqua was to make the buttons look
so good you’ll want to lick them. And I think they were successful. Mac OS X was a feat for the eyes,
with its glossy buttons, pin stripes, and flashy animations. The problem was all that visual luster
came at the cost of performance. ARS Technica’s John Siracus called the Aqua UI “unbearably
slow and a huge resource hog.” Now Apple tried to remedy this issue before the public release of Mac
OS X, but they were only partially successful. The first version of Mac OS X was called Cheetah,
and it began the trend of Apple naming each OS release after a different big cat.
Now despite Apple’s best efforts, the Aqua UI in OS X Cheetah was still pretty
slow compared to its competition, kernel panics were quite common,
and the operating system was missing critical features like a DVD player, disc burning,
and printer driver support. Later on in 2001, an incremental release called Mac OS 10.1 Puma
was shipped to address the majority of concerns users had with Cheetah. It was not only faster,
but certain elements were reorganized and streamlined, making the operating system
more intuitive. Puma included features like DVD playback, disc burning, expanded printer support,
and Image Capture for importing photos from a digital camera which is still around today.
Now less than a year after that release, Apple was ready to give Mac OS X its first
full-featured update, called Mac OS 10.2 Jaguar. It was regarded as the first version
of Mac OS X that pro users could push to its limits, the same way they could with Mac OS
9. And on posters of the disc artwork for Jaguar, the roman numeral “X” featured 3D rendered fur
thanks to some help from PIXAR, where Steve Jobs also served as CEO. Along with many
performance optimizations, Jaguar also included over 150 new user features. Including MP4 support
in Quicktime, junk mail flagging in the Mail app, and better compatibility with Windows.
Now a little over a year after Jaguar, the next update to Mac OS X arrived, this time
called Panther. It was the most substantial release to date, with hundreds of new features
including a redesigned Finder, Exposé for a one click view of all active windows,
and iChat AV, a video conferencing app. Panther also came with a bunch of updated
or brand new applications, like Font Book for installing and browsing installed typefaces,
Xcode for app development, and for the first time, Apple’s own web browser called Safari.
Previously they were using a port of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. Once Safari was released,
it paved the way for several other browsers to use its impressive open source WebKit framework,
including Google Chrome in 2008. Now Panther cost $130 for a single use upgrade, which may seem
pretty steep considering new releases of macOS today are free, but it was pretty reasonable
compared to the price of other operating systems like Windows which sold for $200.
The following release, OS 10.4 Tiger, was really important for Apple since it was used for the
development of other products. Tiger powered the first Apple TV and served as the framework for the
first iPhone operating system in 2007. It included over 200 new features like Spotlight search,
Dashboard widgets, RSS support in Safari, a dictionary, and Photo Booth. Tiger was
also the first release to support two types of processors, the legacy PowerPC architecture,
and the modern Intel architecture used in newer Macs. The Aqua user interface was updated,
with the pinstripes being replaced by more subtle glass and brushed stainless steel elements.
Tiger was the longest running version of Mac OS X, with 11 updates released over 3 years beginning in
2005 and ending in 2007. And that’s primarily due to OS X Leopard being delayed twice. Jobs
said the OS would be released at the end of 2006 or beginning of 2007, then changed the time frame
to spring 2007, and later pushed back the date again to October 2007. The cause of these delays
was the iPhone, which was took resources away from the Mac since it too was being released in 2007.
Now a few of Leopard’s features were Time Machine, an improved Mail
app, iChat AV with Photo Booth filters, Spaces which organized your windows into different
desktops, support for 64 bit applications, a redesigned desktop and dock with more 3D
elements and file stacks, Boot Camp for switching between Mac OS and Windows, and
Quick Look which allowed users to press the space bar to preview something in Finder.
Mac OS X Snow Leopard was the next update, and it's regarded by many to this day as the
single best Mac OS X release ever. While the main appeal of Snow Leopard was its
under the hood improvements like a more responsive Finder rewritten in Cocoa,
and sandboxed apps for more security, there were a number of visible improvements,
like over 7GB of recovered disc space when you upgraded from Leopard, a redesigned QuickTime X,
and the Mac App Store. I should also mention that Snow Leopard was the final version of
Mac OS X to be exclusively released on physical disks.
Because starting with Lion in 2011, the operating system could only be updated via the
Mac App Store, with the exception of Lion being available on $70 USB drives for a short time.
Now speaking of Mac OS 10.7 Lion, it was actually a really pivotal release since it began the trend
of borrowing features and apps from iOS. Things like AirDrop, FaceTime, push notifications,
Mail and Address Book were really reminiscent of the iPad’s interface, most system apps gained
auto save, full screen, and auto resume, there was system wide implementation of auto correct
and emoji pickers, and multitouch gestures were implemented across the entire operating system.
And this prompted speculation over whether Apple might merge iOS and macOS into a single
operating system. Although the company has made it quite clear they plan on keeping them separate.
Now Mac OS 10.8 Mountain Lion further integrated iOS with the Mac in 2012 by introducing
Notification Center, iMessage as a replacement for iChat,
Game Center, Reminders, and Notes. Apps like Address Book and iCal
were renamed Contacts and Calendar to match their iOS counterparts.
And Mac OS 10.9 Mavericks was released a year later, with Craig Federighi joking
on stage that they’d run out of big cat names for new versions of Mac OS X, so they decided
to use names of California landmarks instead, the first being Mavericks. Now this release
was fairly incremental, featuring improved performance and battery life for MacBooks,
iCloud Keychain to generate, store, and sync passwords and credit card numbers,
tabbed windows and file tagging in Finder, the ability to take
action on notifications directly inside the banner, and ported versions of iBooks and Maps.
It was also the first version of Mac OS in history to be released for free through the Mac App Store.
In 2014, Mac OS 10.10 Yosemite was introduced and featured a flatter user interface to more
closely match the design of iOS 7, although it was pretty light on features. Handoff was added,
which allowed you to seamlessly switch between devices when working on a document,
and the Mac could be used to make or answer calls through your iPhone.
In 2015, OS 10.11 El Capitan added the Metal API to make graphically intense apps run smoother,
a new system-wide typeface called San Fransisco, and public transit support in the Maps app.
But the big update wouldn’t arrive until 2016 with the release of Mac OS 10.12 Sierra.
First, the name “Mac OS X” was simplified to “macOS” adopting the same naming scheme
as Apple’s other operating systems like iOS, watchOS and tvOS.
Also, there were a lot of convenience features like Auto Unlock, which used your Apple Watch
to quickly unlock your Mac rather than typing in a password every time. And Universal Clipboard,
which used wifi and bluetooth to share clipboard content between all devices using your Apple ID.
There were also features like Picture in Picture mode for videos, Night Shift, Siri support,
and the Apple File System.
Now the following update in 2017 was called High Sierra and introduced new features like
HVEC video support, Metal 2, eGPU support for some Macs with Thunderbolt 3 ports,
although most users wouldn’t notice many visible difference in this version.
But fortunately that changed in 2018 with macOS Mojave, which introduced the much anticipated
dark mode, along with new dynamic wallpapers that changed depending on the time of day.
Stacks were added to the desktop to reduce clutter, FaceTime supported up to
32 people in a video call, the App Store was redesigned to match the changes made on iOS,
and four iOS apps were ported to the Mac; News, Stocks, Voice Memos and Home.
Now Mac OS X received its final update in 2019 with Catalina.
It was the first version to drop support for 32-bit apps, and featured sidecar,
which allowed an iPad to be used wirelessly as a second display, as well as support for
Playstation 4 and Xbox controllers. Mac Catalyst also made its debut, which allowed developers to
write apps than run on both macOS and iPadOS, as well as easily port apps from iPadOS to the Mac.
Now the most recent release of macOS, called Big Sur, happens to be one of the most important. And
if you want a detailed explanation as to why, I dedicated a whole video to the topic. But in
short, Big Sur marks the beginning of a completely new era for the Mac. Not only is it the first
macOS 11 release, but it finally brings the Mac into the modern era of technology. It’s interface
has been completely transformed to closely match iOS and iPadOS, with new rounded rectangular
icons, control center, and notification center. But this update is more than skin deep. You see,
Big Sur is the first macOS release to be optimized for Apple’s custom-made ARM processors which’ll be
included in upcoming Macs. That means this update is laying the groundwork for a future where Macs,
iPads, and iPhones are more deeply integrated than ever before. With ARM processors,
Big Sur will run iOS and iPadOS apps natively, with no modifications needed from developers.
It’s graphics will be more powerful, the machine will run cooler and quieter,
and battery life will be unmatched by any other notebook on the market. And while Big Sur itself
may not be the most life-changing update, it’s putting the Mac on an
exciting path full of possibilities that I think many people could never even imagine.
Alright guys thanks for watching till the end, don’t forget to subscribe to
help decide which topics I cover, and I’ll see you in the next video.