Ondrej Holzman March 24, 2001. This date is written very boldly in the annals of Apple history. Yesterday, exactly ten years have passed since the new operating system Mac OS X saw the light of day. The first version of the "ten" system with the designation 10.0 was called Cheetah and directed Apple from problems to prominence.
Macworld aptly described the day:
It was March 24, 2001, iMacs weren't even three years old, the iPod was still another six months away, and Macs were reaching speeds as high as 733 Mhz. But the most important thing was that Apple released the first official version of Mac OS X that day, which changed its platform forever.
No one knew it at the time, but the Cheetah system was the first step that took Apple from teetering on the brink of bankruptcy to becoming the second most valuable company in the world.
Who would have expected it. Cheetah sold for $129, but it was slow, buggy, and users were often furious with their computers. Many people were going back to the safe OS 9, but at that moment, despite the problems, at least it was clear that the old Mac OS had rung its bell and a new era was coming.
Below you can watch a video of Steve Jobs introducing Mac OS X 10.0.
Paradoxically, the significant anniversary comes a day after Apple decided to leave one of the fathers of Mac OS X, Bertrand Serlet. He is behind the transformation of NeXTStep OS into the current Mac OS X. However, after more than 20 years at Steve Jobs' company, he decided to devote himself to a slightly different industry.
Over the past ten years, quite a lot has happened in the field of Apple operating systems. Apple has gradually released seven different systems, with an eighth coming this summer. Cheetah was followed by Mac OS X 10.1 Puma (September 2001), followed by 10.2 Jaguar (August 2002), 10.3 Panther (October 2003), 10.4 Tiger (April 2005), 10.5 Leopard (October 2007) and the current Snow Leopard (August 2009).
As time went…
10.1 Puma (September 25, 2001)
Puma was the only OS X update that didn't get a big public launch. It was available for free to anyone who purchased version 10.0 as a fix for all the bugs that Cheetah had. Although the second version was much more stable than its predecessor, some still argued that it was not fully fleshed out. Puma brought users more convenient CD and DVD burning with Finder and iTunes, DVD playback, better printer support, ColorSync 4.0 and Image Capture.
10.2 Jaguar (24 August 2002)
Not until Jaguar launched in August 2002 was considered by most to be a truly finished and ready operating system. Along with more stability and acceleration, Jaguar offered a redesigned Finder and Address Book, Quartz Extreme, Bonjour, Windows networking support, and more.
10.3 Panther (October 24, 2003)
For a change, Panther was the first version of Mac OS X that no longer supported the oldest models of Apple computers. Version 10.3 no longer worked on the earliest Power Mac G3 or PowerBook G3. The system again brought many improvements, both in terms of performance and applications. Expose, Font Book, iChat, FileVault and Safari are new features.
10.4 Tiger (April 29, 2005)
It's not Tiger like Tiger. In April 2005, the big update 10.4 was released, but in January of the next year, version 10.4.4 came, which also marked a big breakthrough - Mac OS X then switched to Macs powered by Intel. Although Tiger 10.4.4 is not included by Apple among the most important revisions of the operating system, it undoubtedly deserves attention. The port of Mac OS X to Intel was being worked on in secret, and the news announced at WWDC held in June 2005 came as a shock to the Mac community.
Other changes in Tiger saw Safari, iChat and Mail. Dashboard, Automator, Dictionary, Front Row and Quartz Composer were new. An optional option during installation was Boot Camp, which allowed a Mac to run Windows natively.
10.5 Leopard (October 26, 2007)
The successor to Tiger was waited for more than two and a half years. After several postponed dates, Apple finally released Mac OS X 2007 under the name Leopard in October 10.5. It was the first operating system after the iPhone and brought Back to My Mac, Boot Camp as part of the standard installation, Spaces and Time Machine. Leopard was the first to offer compatibility with 64-bit applications, while at the same time no longer allowing PowerPC users to run programs from OS 9.
10.6 Snow Leopard (28 August 2009)
The Leopard's successor was also waited for almost two years. Snow Leopard was no longer such a significant revision. Above all, it brought more stability and better performance, and it was also the only one that did not cost $129 (not counting the upgrade from Cheetah to Puma). Those who already owned the Leopard got the snow version for just $29. Snow Leopard stopped supporting PowerPC Macs entirely. There were also changes in Finder, Preview and Safari. QuickTime X, Grand Central and Open CL were introduced.
10.7 Lion (announced for summer 2011)
The eighth version of the apple system should come this summer. Lion should take the best of iOS and bring it to PCs. Apple has already shown users several novelties from the new system, so we can look forward to Launchpad, Mission Control, Versions, Resume, AirDrop or a redesigned system look.
Sources: macstories.net, macrumors.com, tuaw.com
