History Platform / MacOS

The first Macs had the majority of their OS stuffed into 64 kilobytes of [[UsefulNotes/ReadOnlyMemory ROM]], a huge amount for the time, to help conserve the machines' tiny 128 kilobytes of system [[UsefulNotes/RandomAccessMemory RAM]]. [[Platform/MagneticDisk Floppy disks]] were the only media supported, folders weren't actually implemented (the original Macintosh File System faked them using some OS trickery), and only one application could run at a time.[[note]]Technically, there could be more applications running together, but the tiny amount of memory meant that only very few specially designed ones called "Desktop Accessories" were allowed to. When the memory increased (on the Mac II and later) Andy Herzfeld hacked together a so-called Multi Finder shell that allowed limited multitasking.[[/note]] It ran on Motorola's powerful 32-bit[[note]]Internally only. Externally it has a 24-bit address bus, allowing it to address 16 Megabytes of [[UsefulNotes/RandomAccessMemory RAM]], and only 16-bit data bus, which kinda limited its performance.[[/note]] [[UsefulNotes/CentralProcessingUnit 68000 CPU]], but between the extremely limited RAM and the 16-bit-wide data bus, it was not very fast. [[RuleOfCool They sure looked cool, though.]] The later 512k upgrade made things less painful.

[=macOS=] is the operating system for the Platform/AppleMacintosh. It was introduced as System Software in 1984, then renamed Mac OS in 1996 with version 7.6, which was followed by the Platform/{{UNIX}}-based incarnation named Mac OS X[[note]]pronounced Mac OS ''Ten'', the X is a Roman numeral[[/note]] in 2001, which dropped the "Mac" in 2012 and was simply known as OS X, and [=macOS=] since 2016. It is the software that makes a Mac a Mac, more or less. Its common user-visible parts are the ''Finder'', a file management shell; the ''Desktop'', a metaphor for a real desktop managed by the Finder; the ''Apple menu'', a parking spot for small mini-applications called ''desk accessories'' (arguably succeeded by the Konfabulator-like ''Dashboard'' under [=macOS=]) and, starting with System 7, shortcuts to anything you like (mostly handed over to the ''Dock'' in [=macOS=]); and the ''Control Panel'' ("System Preferences" in [=macOS=]), where various system settings are managed.

If all of this sounds [[OnceOriginalNowCommon horribly trite]], there's a reason for it: The Mac pretty much started it all. Before the Mac, there were other experiments in human-computer interaction that pioneered the early GUI, particularly Douglas Engelbart's "Mother of All Demos" that introduced the world to the mouse, as well as Xerox's Alto and Star series of graphical workstations, which Apple drew a lot of inspiration from. But it was Apple that brought it all together in a package that actually ''worked'' on consumer-grade hardware, and even then, it was their ''second'' attempt; a previous attempt, the ''Lisa'', was more primitive and more minicomputer-like, and was an expensive flop.[[note]]Later on, after the Mac had become a hit, the remaining stock of Lisas were packaged with UsefulNotes/{{WINE}}-like middleware called ''[=MacWorks=]'', and sold off as the "Macintosh XL".[[/note]]

This was met with some concern from some longtime Mac users, especially after years of Apple advertising touting the RISC-based PPC [=CPUs=] over the "snail-like" 80x86 family, but by then times had changed, and most of the standard PC's warts had long since been wallpapered over (by fusing the CISC x86 instruction set with a simple RISC architecture inside the "CRISC" CPU) or had been filled in by new UsefulNotes/{{API}}s such as ACPI. Moreover, Apple's own machines had slowly been absorbing technologies from mainstream [=PCs=], such as PCI, ATA, and USB, since the mid-1990s. Finally, Mac OS X's UNIX base made it so that changes on the underlying hardware would not severely impact the user experience, though processor-specific code (usually for math-related things like Photoshop filters) would need to be tweaked or rewritten. Much like the old Mac OS did during the 68k-to-PPC transition, Mac OS X supported "fat binaries", with code for more than one processor type inside [[note]]This was, in fact, a technology when [=NeXTStep=] transitioned to other architectures itself (PA-RISC, SPARC, i386)[[/note]]. Apple labeled applications using this trick as "Universal binaries," and added options in their developer tools to build for both x86 and [=PowerPC=] at the same time. An Intel version of Mac OS X 10.4 was first offered on new Macs immediately after the transition; 10.5 was the first and only standalone [=PowerPC=]/Intel version of the OS available in stores. Mac OS X 10.5 was also granted a license by the Open Group, certifying full compliance with the Single UNIX Specification, which means that Mac OS is now officially a version of Platform/{{UNIX}}. In 2009, Apple announced that [=PowerPC=] processors would not be supported for 10.6, making the break final.

The first Macs had the majority of their OS stuffed into 64 kilobytes of [[UsefulNotes/ReadOnlyMemory ROM]], a huge amount for the time, to help conserve the machines' tiny 128 kilobytes of system [[UsefulNotes/RandomAccessMemory RAM]]. [[UsefulNotes/MagneticDisk Floppy disks]] were the only media supported, folders weren't actually implemented (the original Macintosh File System faked them using some OS trickery), and only one application could run at a time.[[note]]Technically, there could be more applications running together, but the tiny amount of memory meant that only very few specially designed ones called "Desktop Accessories" were allowed to. When the memory increased (on the Mac II and later) Andy Herzfeld hacked together a so-called Multi Finder shell that allowed limited multitasking.[[/note]] It ran on Motorola's powerful 32-bit[[note]]Internally only. Externally it has a 24-bit address bus, allowing it to address 16 Megabytes of [[UsefulNotes/RandomAccessMemory RAM]], and only 16-bit data bus, which kinda limited its performance.[[/note]] [[UsefulNotes/CentralProcessingUnit 68000 CPU]], but between the extremely limited RAM and the 16-bit-wide data bus, it was not very fast. [[RuleOfCool They sure looked cool, though.]] The later 512k upgrade made things less painful.

[=macOS=] is the operating system for the UsefulNotes/AppleMacintosh. It was introduced as System Software in 1984, then renamed Mac OS in 1996 with version 7.6, which was followed by the UsefulNotes/{{UNIX}}-based incarnation named Mac OS X[[note]]pronounced Mac OS ''Ten'', the X is a Roman numeral[[/note]] in 2001, which dropped the "Mac" in 2012 and was simply known as OS X, and [=macOS=] since 2016. It is the software that makes a Mac a Mac, more or less. Its common user-visible parts are the ''Finder'', a file management shell; the ''Desktop'', a metaphor for a real desktop managed by the Finder; the ''Apple menu'', a parking spot for small mini-applications called ''desk accessories'' (arguably succeeded by the Konfabulator-like ''Dashboard'' under [=macOS=]) and, starting with System 7, shortcuts to anything you like (mostly handed over to the ''Dock'' in [=macOS=]); and the ''Control Panel'' ("System Preferences" in [=macOS=]), where various system settings are managed.

The Power Macintosh also marked the beginning of another unusual chapter in Apple's history, that of the legal Macintosh clone. Almost immediately following the Power Mac's launch, Apple granted licenses for companies like Motorola and Radius to sell Mac clones, and it soon burgeoned into a substantial business. The [=PowerPC=] was received so warmly that many other companies ported their [=OSs=] to run on it, such as IBM ([=OS/2=], AIX); Sun (Solaris); Microsoft (Windows NT); and Commodore ([[UsefulNotes/{{Amiga}} AmigaOS]]). Along with this variety of operating systems, AIM intended to produce a Common Hardware Reference Platform (CHRP) which all [=PowerPC=] computers would comply with, so that any [=PowerPC=] computer could run any [=PowerPC=] operating system, including the Mac OS (similar schemes were underway by other RISC architectures, such as Digital Equipment's [=AlphaPC=] and MIPS' [=RISCPC=], both of which followed the Microsoft-championed "Advanced RISC Computer" specification).

Despite the high hopes for CHRP, it never gained popularity outside of Apple itself and a few machines made by IBM and Motorola as AIX workstations. The industry was already crowded with ideas that were supposed to replace the UsefulNotes/IBMPersonalComputer, and the PC market was still waiting for the years-late release of what would eventually become Windows 95. That left the Mac OS-only cloning business, which was popular, but ended up cannibalizing Apple's existing customers instead of recruiting switchers from other platforms as Apple had hoped.

Meanwhile, the Mac hardware was starting to outstrip the stopgap Mac OS's capabilities. Users complained about slow I/O, frequent crashes (due to a lack of memory protection), and a general lack of polish, especially in the face of Microsoft's blockbuster [[UsefulNotes/MicrosoftWindows Windows 95]] launch—while Windows 95 was advertised with many of the same features as Copland was, Windows 95 was able to deliver on them, for the most part, whereas Copland couldn't. Windows 95 was visually polished and user-friendly enough to successfully compete with System 7.5 as well, leading to many users switching ''away'' from the Macintosh platform, mostly to Windows, with technically-minded users gravitating toward [[UsefulNotes/{{Unix}} Linux and BSD]].[[note]]This is where the whole of Japan decided to collectively jump off Apple's wagon, for example. Since then, Apple sales in Japan are concentrated in the handheld market, and their desktops are mostly ignored. Classic Macs are still looked upon fondly, however, and the SE/30 and the Color Classic in particular have cult followings there.[[/note]] Worse, the OS had several quirks in its design that dated to its early days; these design decisions, most of which were required by the first Mac's severely limited memory, made it extremely difficult to run a traditional Mac OS application in a multitasking environment without virtualization.[[note]]This, actually, was the path both OS/2 and Windows took, as the PC was suffering from the same problem at the time, but post-386 PC hardware ''did'' support virtualization through the new Virtual 8086 mode, while the Mac's 68030 and 68040 processors didn't, and the move to [=PowerPC=] put more emphasis on getting existing apps running as seamlessly as possible.[[/note]] The Copland engineers found this problem the hardest to solve, and it was probably the biggest contributor to Copland's eventual abandonment; the solution they came up with, the "Blue Box", would eventually be rescued and integrated into OS X as the "Classic" subsystem.

After a six-month search, and briefly considering using [=BeOS=], Solaris, or even Windows NT, Apple decided to buy [=NeXT=] in late 1996, bringing founder Steve Jobs back into the fold and giving Apple a platform that was in far better shape than anything Apple had been working on internally, and (most importantly) had room to grow. OS development work turned to improving [=NeXTStep=], updating its older parts using code from [[UsefulNotes/{{UNIX}} FreeBSD and NetBSD]], making the interface more Mac-like, and writing new graphics handling code (due to Adobe restrictions on using Display [=PostScript=]). The new OS was years away, however, and something had to be done right away to make the current Mac OS salable.

At the 2005 WWDC, Apple dropped a bombshell on the Mac community: The Mac was moving to Intel processors (specifically the Pentium M and Core architectures), effectively making the Mac a PC clone. The main reason stated was that Apple could not get IBM and [[strike:Motorola]]Freescale to cooperate on developing a low-power version of the [=PowerPC=] G5 CPU, forcing Apple to continue using the aging G4 CPU instead in the highly popular [=PowerBook=] and [=iBook=] ranges. The G5 itself was infamously power-hungry, with many of the faster models requiring water cooling, and that meant more heat and more fan noise. This was especially irksome to Apple, as the earlier PPC G3 was one of the most efficient [=CPUs=] ever made, allowing Apple's laptops to easily hold the title of "World's Fastest" for years. Amusingly enough, Apple's abandonment of the PPC occurred just before the entire 7th generation of VideogameSystems unanimously switched to it, coinciding with enormous upgrades to the PPC architecture[[note]]In fact, early development kits for the UsefulNotes/{{XBox 360}} were Power Macintosh [=G5s=].[[/note]].

This was met with some concern from some longtime Mac users, especially after years of Apple advertising touting the RISC-based PPC [=CPUs=] over the "snail-like" 80x86 family, but by then times had changed, and most of the standard PC's warts had long since been wallpapered over (by fusing the CISC x86 instruction set with a simple RISC architecture inside the "CRISC" CPU) or had been filled in by new UsefulNotes/{{API}}s such as ACPI. Moreover, Apple's own machines had slowly been absorbing technologies from mainstream [=PCs=], such as PCI, ATA, and USB, since the mid-1990s. Finally, Mac OS X's UNIX base made it so that changes on the underlying hardware would not severely impact the user experience, though processor-specific code (usually for math-related things like Photoshop filters) would need to be tweaked or rewritten. Much like the old Mac OS did during the 68k-to-PPC transition, Mac OS X supported "fat binaries", with code for more than one processor type inside [[note]]This was, in fact, a technology when [=NeXTStep=] transitioned to other architectures itself (PA-RISC, SPARC, i386)[[/note]]. Apple labeled applications using this trick as "Universal binaries," and added options in their developer tools to build for both x86 and [=PowerPC=] at the same time. An Intel version of Mac OS X 10.4 was first offered on new Macs immediately after the transition; 10.5 was the first and only standalone [=PowerPC=]/Intel version of the OS available in stores. Mac OS X 10.5 was also granted a license by the Open Group, certifying full compliance with the Single UNIX Specification, which means that Mac OS is now officially a version of UsefulNotes/{{UNIX}}. In 2009, Apple announced that [=PowerPC=] processors would not be supported for 10.6, making the break final.

Next up: Sierra. This release changed the name of the OS itself: instead of "OS X", it went with the simpler "macOS"[[note]]To align itself with Apple's other operating systems, [=iOS=], [=watchOS=], and [=tvOS=], and probably to differentiate itself from [[UsefulNotes/MicrosoftWindows Windows 10]], which launched the previous year[[/note]]. This release brings the Mac closer to iOS, and not it's not just the name: it introduced iOS' virtual assistant Siri to the Mac, it let users pay for things online with Apple Pay, and your Apple Watch can now seamlessly unlock your Mac.

If all of this sounds [[SeinfeldIsUnfunny horribly trite]], there's a reason for it: The Mac pretty much started it all. Before the Mac, there were other experiments in human-computer interaction that pioneered the early GUI, particularly Douglas Engelbart's "Mother of All Demos" that introduced the world to the mouse, as well as Xerox's Alto and Star series of graphical workstations, which Apple drew a lot of inspiration from. But it was Apple that brought it all together in a package that actually ''worked'' on consumer-grade hardware, and even then, it was their ''second'' attempt; a previous attempt, the ''Lisa'', was more primitive and more minicomputer-like, and was an expensive flop.[[note]]Later on, after the Mac had become a hit, the remaining stock of Lisas were packaged with UsefulNotes/{{WINE}}-like middleware called ''[=MacWorks=]'', and sold off as the "Macintosh XL".[[/note]]

Meanwhile, the Mac hardware was starting to outstrip the stopgap Mac OS's capabilities. Users complained about slow I/O, frequent crashes (due to a lack of memory protection), and a general lack of polish, especially in the face of Microsoft's blockbuster [[UsefulNotes/MicrosoftWindows Windows 95]] launch—while Windows 95 was advertised with many of the same features as Copland was, Windows 95 was able to deliver on them, for the most part, whereas Copland couldn't. Windows 95 was visually polished and user-friendly enough to successfully compete with System 7.5 as well, leading to many users switching ''away'' from the Macintosh platform, mostly to Windows, though the technically-minded gravitated toward [[UsefulNotes/{{Unix}} Linux and the BSDs]].[[note]]This is where the whole of Japan decided to collectively jump off Apple's wagon, for example. Since then, Apple sales in Japan are concentrated in the handheld market, and their desktops are mostly ignored. Classic Macs are still looked upon fondly, however, and the SE/30 and the Color Classic in particular have cult followings there.[[/note]] Worse, the OS had several quirks in its design that dated to its early days; these design decisions, most of which were required by the first Mac's severely limited memory, made it extremely difficult to run a traditional Mac OS application in a multitasking environment without virtualization.[[note]]This, actually, was the path both OS/2 and Windows took, as the PC was suffering from the same problem at the time, but post-386 PC hardware ''did'' support virtualization through the new Virtual 8086 mode, while the Mac's 68030 and 68040 processors didn't, and the move to [=PowerPC=] put more emphasis on getting existing apps running as seamlessly as possible.[[/note]] The Copland engineers found this problem the hardest to solve, and it was probably the biggest contributor to Copland's eventual abandonment; the solution they came up with, the "Blue Box", would eventually be rescued and integrated into OS X as the "Classic" subsystem.

[=macOS=] is the operating system for the UsefulNotes/AppleMacintosh. It was introduced as System Software in 1984, then renamed Mac OS in 1996 with version 7.6, which was followed by the UsefulNotes/{{UNIX}}-based incarnation named Mac OS X[[note]]pronounced Mac OS ''Ten'', the X is a Roman numeral[[/note]] in 2001, which dropped the "Mac" in 2012 and was simply known as OS X, and most recently [=macOS=] since 2016. It is the software that makes a Mac a Mac, more or less. Its common user-visible parts are the ''Finder'', a file management shell; the ''Desktop'', a metaphor for a real desktop managed by the Finder; the ''Apple menu'', a parking spot for small mini-applications called ''desk accessories'' (arguably succeeded by the Konfabulator-like ''Dashboard'' under [=macOS=]) and, starting with System 7, shortcuts to anything you like (mostly handed over to the ''Dock'' in [=macOS=]); and the ''Control Panel'' ("System Preferences" in [=macOS=]), where various system settings are managed.

Just like they did during the previous architecture switche, Apple bundled a beta version of macOS 11.0 with a test machine that was made available to developers. These include new versions of both the Rosetta emulator and the Universal binary format, which allow 64-bit Intel Mac apps to run on ARM, and developers to create apps that run natively on both Intel and ARM Macs, respectively.

!![=macOS=] 11 and the Apple Silicon transition

Just like they did during the prior architecture switches, Apple bundled macOS 11.0 with a set of tools designed to ease the transition for both developers and users. These include new versions of both the Rosetta emulator and the Universal binary format, which allow 64-bit Intel Mac apps to run on ARM, and developers to create apps that run natively on both Intel and ARM Macs, respectively.

Upon the announcement of the transition, Apple said it would take two years to complete.[[note]](They said the same thing during the Intel transition, but that only took one year, probably because Intel's processors were readily available. This time around, they're building their own processors from the ground up, so the two-year estimate is likely to be accurate this time around.)[[/note]]. Five months later, they launched the first ARM-based Macs, a [=MacBook Air=], a 13-inch [=MacBook Pro=], and a Mac Mini, using the M1, the first Apple-designed chip created for Macs. The following year, they transitioned more Macs, including an [=iMac=], and a full line up of Apple-silicon based [=MacBooks=]. With that, only a handful of Intel-based machines remain in Apple's line-up, with Apple Silicon replacements for those models expected in 2022. Even once this transition completes, it's likely that Apple will continue software support for Intel Macs for some years to come, though the exact extent of this remains to be seen[[note]]For comparison, the first [=PowerPC=]-only version of Mac OS, 8.5, released in 1998, 4 years after the last 68k Macs were sold, and the first Intel-only version, 10.6 "Snow Leopard", released in 2009, 3 years after the last [=PowerPC=] Macs were sold. Currently Apple seems committed to providing software support for its hardware for 6 years, so assuming this holds true and the last Intel Macs sell in 2022, then Intel support on [=macOS=] could last until 2028.[[/note]].

!!2001-2002: The Birth of Mac OS X and the Death of Mac OS 9

!! The 64-bit transition.

!! App Store Release

!![=macOS=] 11 and the Mac transition to Apple Silicon

[[https://9to5mac.com/2020/06/22/arm-mac-apple/ In June 2020]], Apple announced yet another CPU-architecture transition, this time from Intel processors to Apple-designed ARM-based chips, branded as Apple silicon. These are similar to the processors they had already been using for the iPhone and iPad, but significantly more powerful in order to handle laptop and desktop workloads. To mark the transition, they also announced that the next version of [=macOS=], named "Big Sur", would finally bump the version number up to 11.0, nearly 20 years after the introduction of Mac OS X. Big Sur featured another major visual redesign, changing app icons, and doubling down on the flat, abstract design first introduced in Yosemite[[note]]For example, the default wall doesn't show a photo of the OS's namesake Big Sur (a famous surfing destination) but instead features an abstract wave pattern[[/note]]. As a result of these changes most of the interface looks nearly identical to iOS.

The UsefulNotes/AppleMacintosh System Software (known as Mac OS after version 7.5, followed by the UsefulNotes/{{UNIX}}-based incarnation being named Mac OS X, then OS X, then [=macOS=]) is the software that makes a Mac a Mac, more or less. Its common user-visible parts are the ''Finder'', a file management shell; the ''Desktop'', a metaphor for a real desktop managed by the Finder; the ''Apple menu'', a parking spot for small mini-applications called ''desk accessories'' (arguably succeeded by the Konfabulator-like ''Dashboard'' under [=macOS=]) and, starting with System 7, shortcuts to anything you like (mostly handed over to the ''Dock'' in [=macOS=]); and the ''Control Panel'' ("System Preferences" in [=macOS=]), where various system settings are managed.

Work on [=NeXTStep=]'s renovation continued briskly, and in 1999, the first version of what would become the new Mac OS was released as ''Mac OS X Server 1.0'', better known to fans by the codename ''Rhapsody''. Rhapsody was something of a shock to veteran Mac users, combining bits of the Mac OS 8.0 interface with the far different [=NeXTStep=] 4.0 GUI. There was also no way to port classic Mac applications to Rhapsody at the time, forcing Apple to develop a subset of the old Mac [=APIs=] called "Carbon" that would allow properly made programs to work on both Mac OS 8/9 and Mac OS X. Carbon was announced in early 1998, and shipped along with the first releases of the Mac OS X development tools in 1999. Along with carbon was Classic, an emulator for running Mac OS 9 inside Mac OS X (which, by the way, is pronounced "oh ess ten" and not "oh ess ecks"; the X is a Roman numeral).

Meanwhile, the Mac hardware was starting to outstrip the stopgap Mac OS's capabilities. Users complained about slow I/O, frequent crashes (due to a lack of memory protection), and a general lack of polish, especially in the face of Microsoft's blockbuster [[UsefulNotes/MicrosoftWindows Windows 95]] launch—while Windows 95 was advertised with many of the same features as Copland was, Windows 95 was able to deliver on them, for the most part, whereas Copland couldn't. Windows 95 was visually polished and user-friendly enough to successfully compete with System 7.5 as well, leading to many users switching ''away'' from the Macintosh platform.[[note]]This is where the whole of Japan decided to collectively jump off Apple's wagon, for example. Since then, Apple sales in Japan are concentrated in the handheld market, and their desktops are mostly ignored. Classic Macs are still looked upon fondly, however, and the SE/30 and the Color Classic in particular have cult followings there.[[/note]] Worse, the OS had several quirks in its design that dated to its early days; these design decisions, most of which were required by the first Mac's severely limited memory, made it extremely difficult to run a traditional Mac OS application in a multitasking environment without virtualization.[[note]]This, actually, was the path both OS/2 and Windows took, as the PC was suffering from the same problem at the time, but post-386 PC hardware ''did'' support virtualization through the new Virtual 8086 mode, while the Mac's 68030 and 68040 processors didn't, and the move to [=PowerPC=] put more emphasis on getting existing apps running as seamlessly as possible.[[/note]] The Copland engineers found this problem the hardest to solve, and it was probably the biggest contributor to Copland's eventual abandonment; the solution they came up with, the "Blue Box", would eventually be rescued and integrated into OS X as the "Classic" subsystem.

[[https://9to5mac.com/2020/06/22/arm-mac-apple/ In June 2020]], Apple announced yet another CPU-architecture transition, this time from Intel processors to Apple-designed ARM-based chips, branded as Apple silicon. These are similar to the processors they had already been using for the iPhone and iPad, but significantly more powerful in order to handle laptop and desktop workloads. To mark the transition, they also announced that the next version of [=macOS=], named "Big Sur", would finally bump the version number [[UpToEleven up to]] [[{{Pun}} 11.0]], nearly 20 years after the introduction of Mac OS X. Big Sur featured another major visual redesign, changing app icons, and doubling down on the flat, abstract design first introduced in Yosemite[[note]]For example, the default wall doesn't show a photo of the OS's namesake Big Sur (a famous surfing destination) but instead features an abstract wave pattern[[/note]]. As a result of these changes most of the interface looks nearly identical to iOS.

!!2002: The Birth of Mac OS X and the Death of Mac OS 9
Apple finally launched its replacement for the classic Mac OS, Mac OS X, in early 2001. While the initial 10.0 release was criticized for slow performance and missing features, version 10.1, released in late 2001, was usable to the point where it was able to replace most of the old Mac OS's functionality. This prompted Apple to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cl7xQ8i3fc0 perform a mock funeral ceremony]] for OS 9 at the 2002 Worldwide Developers Conference, thus officially dropping support for it and casting Mac OS X as the future. 10.1 still had some rough edges and was a bit slow, but it was quite usable for the time. Application support was still a problem, as many long-time Apple developers were still in the process of porting to Carbon then, and vast swathes of Mac OS X were still unfinished or being rewritten until Mac OS X gelled with the arrival of 10.3.

!!2002: The Death of Mac OS 9
Finally, by late 2001, Mac OS X was usable to the point where it was able to replace most of the old Mac OS's functionality with the release of Mac OS X 10.1. This prompted Apple to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cl7xQ8i3fc0 perform a mock funeral ceremony]] for OS 9 at the 2002 Worldwide Developers Conference, thus officially dropping support for it and casting Mac OS X as the future. 10.1 still had some rough edges and was a bit slow, but it was quite usable for the time. Application support was still a problem, as many long-time Apple developers were still in the process of porting to Carbon then, and vast swathes of Mac OS X were still unfinished or being rewritten until Mac OS X gelled with the arrival of 10.3.

Just like they did during the prior architecture switches, Apple bundled macOS 11.0 with a set of tools designed to ease the transition for both developers and users. These include new versions of both the Rosetta emulator and the Universal binary format, which can can run 64-bit Intel Mac apps on ARM, and allow developers to create apps that run natively on both Intel and ARM Macs, respectively.

Just like they did during the prior architecture switches, Apple bundled macOS 11.0 with a set of tools designed to ease the transition for both developers and users. These include new version of both the Rosetta emulator and the Universal binary format, which can can run 64-bit Intel Mac apps on ARM, and allow developers to create apps that run natively on both Intel and ARM Macs, respectively.

Just like they did during the prior architecture switches, Apple released macOS 11.0 with a set of tools designed to ease the transition for both developers and users. These include a new version of the Rosetta emulator that can run 64-bit Intel Mac apps on ARM, and a new Universal binary format that will allow developers to create apps that run natively on both Intel and ARM Macs.

[[https://9to5mac.com/2020/06/22/arm-mac-apple/ In June 2020]], Apple announced yet another CPU-architecture transition, this time from Intel processors to Apple-designed ARM-based chips, branded as Apple silicon. These are similar to the processors they had already been using for the iPhone and iPad, but significantly more powerful in order to handle laptop and desktop workloads. To mark the transition, they also announced that the next version of [=macOS=], named "Big Sur", would finally bump the version number [[UpToEleven up to]] [[{{Pun}} 11.0]], nearly 20 years after the introduction of Mac OS X. Big Sur featured another major visual redesign, changing app icons and most of the interface to look nearly identical to iOS.

[[https://9to5mac.com/2020/06/22/arm-mac-apple/ In June 2020]], Apple announced yet another CPU-architecture transition, this time from Intel processors to Apple-designed ARM-based chips, branded as Apple silicon. These are similar to the processors they had already been using for the iPhone and iPad, but significantly more powerful in order to handle laptop and desktop workloads. To mark the transition, they also announced that the next version of [=macOS=], named "Big Sur", would finally bump the version number up to 11.0, nearly 20 years after the introduction of Mac OS X. Big Sur featured another major visual redesign, changing app icons and most of the interface to look nearly identical to iOS.

[[https://9to5mac.com/2020/06/22/arm-mac-apple/ In June 2020]], Apple announced yet another CPU-architecture transition, this time from Intel processors to Apple-designed ARM-based chips, branded as Apple silicon. These are similar to the processors they had already been using for the iPhone and iPad, but significantly more powerful in order to handle laptop and desktop workloads. To mark the transition, they also announced that the next version of [=macOS=], named "Big Sur", would finally bump the version number up to 11.0, nearly 20 years after the introduction of Mac OS X.