Mac 1.0 to Mac OS Leopard
With the introduction of Apple Macintosh personal computers, Apple, Inc. also released a separate operating system specialized for the Apple PCs. Lisa OS was where the first, the original Mac OS was based in.
It was June of 1978 when Apple DOS 3.1 was release by Apple, Inc. This was the first OS for Apple computers. Six years later, Apple introduced System 1. The System Software would eventually be called the Mac OS. With a new feature, the LaserWriter, System 2 was released. Until 1990, five more System versions were introduced by Apple, Inc., year after year. In 1997, seven years after the last System version, System was officially renamed into Mac OS, thereby releasing the Mac OS 8. Among the focus of this newest version was its speed, its stability, its performance, and of course, its GUI. Later on, in 1999, Mac OS 9 was introduced, with a better memory management and many new search plug-ins.
Mac OS X eventually succeeded the original Mac OS that existed since 1984. Mac OS X was by far the fastest among all the operating systems of Apple. It was even, in itself, a group of operating systems. The operating systems were also Unix based. Several versions of Mac OS X were released: Mac OS X v10.0 (Cheetah), Mac OS X v10.1 (Puma), Mac OS X v10.2 (Jaguar), Mac OS X v10.3 (Panther), Mac OS X v10.4 (Tiger), and Mac OS X v10.5 (Leopard). All releases of Mac OS X, as you may have noticed, are named after big cats.
No. 1 Recommended Website for History
URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_OS_history
If you want a comprehensive discussion on the history of Mac OS, then this is the perfect site for you. This chapter of the free online encyclopaedia, Wikipedia, is very rich in information on how Mac has evolved through time. The page provides images, tables and timeline to support and give more information. You can also learn and familiarize more about how Mac OS works, because most probably, it is Windows you may be most familiar about. You can also check out some more references and chapters in Wikipedia that are related to Mac OS. All the information presented is very useful and relevant.
No. 2 Recommended Website for History
URL: http://www.kernelthread.com/mac/oshistory/
The website lists down the extensive history of Mac OS. The details you need are all there. Several links are contained. In its introduction, it states that “This document discusses operating systems that Apple has created in the past, and many that it tried to create. Through this discussion, we will come across several technologies the confluence of which eventually led to Mac OS X. An important goal of the discussion is to better understand the reasons, and if possible, the rationale behind Mac OS X and its important components. This, in turn, will be helpful in understanding and appreciating the system as it is today.”
No. 3 Recommended Website for History
URL: http://www.roughlydrafted.com/2007/09/30/leopard-and-the-history-and-future-of-mac-os-x-on-powerpc/
It is a sort of a blog or an online magazine that contains posts on technology and computers. One article entitled Leopard and the History and Future of Mac OS X on Power PC talks about the various reactions Mac OS X Leopard has received throughout the years. It talks about the evolution of Mac OS that lead the OS to what it is today.