How Mac OS X, 10 Today, Changed Apple's World

CWmike writes "Ten years ago today, Apple's first full public version of Mac OS X went on sale worldwide to a gleeful reception as thousands of Mac users attended special events at their local computer shops all across the planet. What we didn't know then was that Apple was preparing to open up its own chain of retail outlets, nor had we heard Steve Jobs use the phrase, 'iPod.' Windows was still a competitor, and Google was still a search engine. These were halcyon days, when being a Mac user meant belonging to the second team, writes Jonny Evans. We're looking at the eighth significant OS X release in the next few months, Lion, which should offer some elements of unification between the iOS and OS X. There's still some bugs to iron out though, particularly the problem with ACL's (Access Control Lists) inside the Finder. Hopefully departing ex-NeXT Mac OS chief, Bertrand Serlet, will be able to fix this before he leaves."

Comments

Windows "was" a competitor?

[bigstrat2003]

Interesting use of the past tense there, considering Windows usage still dwarfs Mac OS usage.

Re:Windows "was" a competitor?

[Old97]

Yes. Ten years ago the Mac OS was a dying niche. Now it's a thriving niche.

Re:Windows "was" a competitor?

[Drakino]

Yes, I mean iPhoto. Been using it since version 1 from January 2002. Back when cameras all hadn't standardized on ways to transfer photos to a computer, and most people were doing all the file management by hand. I plug in a camera, iPhoto launches, and offers to import. I can organize them into albums, and over time events, places, faces and smart albums were added to make it better. Features have also been added to let me share the photos to web sites, via e-mail, Facebook, and other places. All without ever having to manage the files directly.

And at any time I can extract out all my initial jpeg imported images out of the library this "bit of proprietary software" created and move to another program if I need to. So far that hasn't happened. I have poked at Picassa and had fun with the face movie feature, and I am glad to see the competition. It's just not quite enough to move me away from the solutions I have now that work for me.

iPhoto was one of the programs that helped me understand "The Mac way" early on, and I've come to appreciate it. With iLife apps, Spotlight, and other features, I don't manage files. I manage my content. In doing so, it's helped me realize what a proper consumer based system should look like. While the free software folks have been busy over the past decade arguing over licenses and what free and open mean, I've been bringing the joys of computing to my family members, including my elderly grandparents thanks to the consumer nature of OS X. I've given up on caring about using proprietary vs open software long ago, and instead pick what works well. In some cases it's FOSS software, in others it's free but closed software, and other times it's paid closed software.

I'm still a supporter of Linux, and continue to use it as a server OS. But I'm not prepared to switch to it as a desktop OS, nor would I even think of switching my family over. Ultimately practicality wins out for me these days over idealism.

halcyon days?

[Culture20]

Windows was still a competitor, and Google was still a search engine. These were halcyon days, when being a Mac user meant belonging to the second team

So mac users fancy themselves as belonging to the winning team now? And how exactly were the days when Microsoft propped up Apple to prevent Microsoft from becoming a noticeable monopoly halcyon? Apple's fire almost died, and they had to make heavy use of BSD licensed (free, wee!) software to rekindle the embers.

Re:halcyon days?

[Jahava]

Seriously, you think the use of some BSD code is what made the difference?

You do understand that their kernel, Darwin, uses XNU at its core, which is largely composed of the Mach Microkernel and BSD. Leveraging these mature projects spared Apple (NeXT, at the time) from having to design, develop, and debug a kernel from scratch.

Yes, this is a hell of a leg-up.

Re:Flamewars

[Jethro]

Most my computers are Linux machines, including my desktop.

My laptop is a Macbook Pro. Before that it was a Macbook, and before that it was a Powerbook.

I would not have TOUCHED a Mac if not for OS X, which is, essentially, UNIX.

I'm typing thins on my laptop right now. I currently have Firefox open, and an IM program, a VNC, and several terminals. One terminal is running Alpine on my desktop, one is doing an apt-get dist-upgrade on my media center, and one is setting up the new kernel/boot parameters for the network boot on my media server.

So, yes, people DO use the CLI in OS X, I'd say ESPECIALLY people who live in UNIX-land, but do also occasionally need to edit some video or process some photographs or record some audio.

Re:Flamewars

[Graff]

The relevant visible parts of MacOS are pretty anti-unix actually.

Erm, no, Mac OS X is quite definitely 100% certified Unix. This has nothing to do with the "visible parts" (you mean the GUI I assume), this is all about the underlying kernel and other subsystems of the OS, as well as some of the userland tools.