Mac OS X Beginnings: Cheetah (2001)

From http://web.archive.org and Wikipedia

Finally complete and fleshed-out, and taking suggestions by developers and users, Apple modified and implemented it's first official 10.0 OS release, codenamed "Cheetah" (the big-cat naming system for subsequent releases continues today). Cheetah was the culmination and refinement of brand new ideas—not just an overhaul an older OS—combining a Unix-like Darwin kernel (Google it) with features from NeXTSTEP and specific design elements from OS 9 (like, say, the Finder).

The Cheetah release gave Apple fanatics a new reason to love their computers. Re-invigorated after suffering through the 90s dark ages, Apple and its avid users got a glimpse at the light at the end of the the tunnel.

Release: Mac OS X 10.0 "Cheetah"

Features: first official stable release, completely different codebase from OS 9, new user interface, improved networking, added support for AirPort wireless technology, full PDF support and the ability to create PDFs from any application, the fully-feature Mail application, other essential apps like Address Book and TextEdit, and the Apple logo moved back to the upper left of the menubar.

Drawbacks: A newly-minted OS, the system still had many bugs to be squashed, the interface was criticized for being too slow, and there were a few key features missing like CD burning and DVD playback, which were both available in OS 9.

Price: $129 ($100 for an upgrade from public beta)

Mac OS X Beginnings: Public Beta (2000)

Though having released the revolutionary iMac in 1998, which featured an entirely new approach to personal computer design, the hip, translucent all-in-one personal computers still featured Apple's then-aging OS 8 and eventually OS 9 software. Behind the scenes, however, Apple had been hard at work completely rethinking the modern desktop operating system. Incorporating the powerful technologies found in NeXTSTEP, Apple developed the what eventually became to be known as OS X.

Thanks to http://pc.watch.impress.co.jp

In September of 2000, Steve Jobs stunned audiences with the flashy interface and new features of OS X. With a radically new user interface and software features like QuickTime and Sherlock, people began to look at Macs in a whole new light. The UI skin, called Aqua, did away with dull box-like controls, buttons and scrollbars. Window animations were a completely new experience. The dock created a much different way to quickly get at frequently used applications and documents. Overall, the idea behind OS X was to make everything simpler and easier.

Sure, the fresh, new Mac OS overhaul was buggy (many had said it was nearly unusable), but it was beta. Those that spent the $29.95 knew what they were getting into.

The weirdest thing though was the Apple logo placed in the middle of the top menubar... It was, however, changed back to the top left before the official release of Cheetah.

Release: Mac OS Public Beta

Features: First look at up-and-coming Mac innovations, completely new user interface, preemptive multitasking, memory protection, multiple users, Mail, QuickTime, MP3 software, Sherlock, Internet Explorer.

Price: $29.95

Mac OS X beginnings: NeXTSTEP

Now a decade after its first release, now’s the time for some nostalgic Mac OS X goodness. Let’s take a look at the Mac’s most far-reaching and advanced operating system from inception and infancy to its now very adult-like capabilities and features.

OS X beginnings: NeXTSTEP

NeXTSTEP screenshot thanks to kernelthread.com

If you weren’t aware, the OS X Snow Leopard we know and love today was actually birthed from an operating system developed during the late-1980s to mid-1990s called NeXTSTEP. NeXTSTEP, from the Steve Jobs-owned company, NeXT, was an more modern multitasking operating system and well ahead of its time. However, bundled with capable though very expensive hardware, NeXTSTEP struggled to gain marketshare with competing “workstation” computers, and eventually Microsoft Windows became the preferred platform in both business and consumer markets.

Apple, then a competing company for Steve Jobs, also faced the same struggles. And by the mid- to late-1990s, Apple was desperate for a solution, as their main product line, the Macintosh, was no longer as competitive because of its aging, single-user and single-tasking operating system, OS 9.

An agreement was made. Apple bought NeXT, and with it all the advanced technologies within the NeXTSTEP operating system. With Steve Jobs back at Apple as an interim-CEO, and with NeXTSTEP in tow, Apple got to work on the next generation of OS called OS X. That’s “X” for “ten.”

Next post, we'll look at the brainchild of these efforts, OS X 10.0—aka Cheetah.

Here's a video of Steve Jobs demoing NeXTSTEP 3, the last major iteration of the operating system software: