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The innovative release of Mac OS, with completely new underpinnings and Aqua interface.

Released on 24th March 2001 by Apple .

Interface name: Aqua

Taglines: “The world’s most advanced operating system”, “The power of UNIX with the simplicity and elegance of Macintosh”


		Sep 97	Rhapsody
		23 Oct 99	Mac OS 9

		10 May 99	Mac OS X Developer Preview (32 screenshots)
		Nov 99	Mac OS X Developer Preview 2 (31 screenshots)
		Feb 00	Mac OS X Developer Preview 3 (32 screenshots)
		15 May 00	Mac OS X Developer Preview 4 (34 screenshots)
		13 Sep 00	Mac OS X Public Beta (37 screenshots)
		21 Jun 01	Mac OS X 10.0.4 (35 screenshots)
		25 Sep 01	Mac OS X 10.1 (44 screenshots)

		23 Aug 02	Mac OS X 10.2 Jaguar

“One thousand square pixels of canvas” by Marcin Wichary, 2003

“Interview with Nathan Lineback” by Marcin Wichary, 2005

“Interview with John Gruber” by Marcin Wichary, 2005

Aqua entry

from Wikipedia

Mac OS X 10.1 screenshots

from Nathan Lineback

Mac OS 10.1

12-page insert explaining first LCD iMac, including Mac OS X

“No. It’s no evolution at all. It’s no advance at all. [The users are still] stuck in this morass of overlapping windows.”

(Jef Raskin on Mac OS X)

Contemporary Mac OS X has more in common with NeXTSTEP than with classic Mac OS. When it was obvious that classic Mac OS design has limitation which cannot be overcome, and after several failed internal replacement projects at Apple (including the infamous Copland), the company started looking outside. When it was almost certain that BeOS will serve as a framework for the new OS, Apple surprised everyone by buying out NeXT, Inc., and using their operating system. BeOS was allegedly too limited (it couldn’t even print!) and too expensive. OS/2 and Windows NT were also considered alternatives, as both had PowerPC versions at the time.