Mac OS X

A screenshot of the developer preview of Mac OS 10.5 "Leopard".

Mac OS X is a proprietary, Unix-based operating system developed. marketed, and sold by Apple Inc.. Its Aqua graphical user interface and Cocoa API are based on technologies of the dead OPENSTEP operating system from NeXT, absorbed with Apple's purchase in late 1996. Mac OS X has become the most used and probably most popular Unix in the world. Its open source core, named Darwin, is based on FreeBSD 5.0 and the Mach 3.0 microkernel.

Platforms

Mac OS X is multi-platform, with builds in Apple products running on PowerPC processors, x86 processors, and at least one form of ARM processor.

History

Following the limited success of Apple attempts to modernize its Mac OS (the Copland Project), the company decided to use existing technology for the tenth version of its operating system. While Be Inc seemed to be the most appropriate candidate, NeXT's technologies were chosen as the basis for Apple's new operating system. Rhapsody, code name for the system, joined the Mach microkernel, a BSD operating system layer, the Yellow Box object-oriented frameworks from OPENSTEP and the Blue Box environment for backwards-compatibility with the classic Mac OS. Rhapsody evolved into Mac OS X Server 1.0, which became the predecessor to Mac OS X.

Mac OS X has seen 5 releases as of early 2007. Mac OS 10.0 was the first release, and Mac OS 10.4 is the most recent, with a projected release of the next major iteration —Mac OS 10.5 "Leopard"— sometime in spring 2007.

External links

• Mac OS X - The official Apple web page for the Mac OS X operating system
• Apple Developer Connection - Resources for Mac OS X developers