Filed under: Cult of Mac, Apple
The sordid past of Mac OS X
If you're a relative newcomer to the Mac (read: halo switchers inspired by iPod/iPhone) then chances are pretty good that you and OS X (Oh-Ess Ten) don't have a very long history together. In fact, switchers who were enticed by the iPod/iTunes ecosystem would likely not have any experience with the Mac prior to 2003.That being the case, and given the ramp up to the release of Snow Leopard this Friday, it might be a worthy use of time to check out TwistedMac's overview of OS X. It starts with the Public Beta of OS X that was released in September of 2000 and flies all the way through to the current, latest release of OS X, 10.5 Leopard.
A brief description and screenshots galore provide ample coverage for many of the features and nuances of each release over the years. If you have only been using a Mac in this millennium you will find this overview quite interesting and informative. Even if you've been on the Mac since the OS 9 days, it is still entertaining to see how far OS X has come in the past 9 years.
As a relative Mac newbie, I will open myself up to public flogging and admit to the fact that my earliest experiences with Mac OS were in the 10.3 Panther days. Truth be told, I didn't even switch until after 10.4 Tiger was released. Now, however, I'm going to hide out until tomorrow morning when I can purchase 10.6 Snow Leopard while the rest of you give up the goods as to when you joined the team.
Tip of the hat to Evan H. for sending this in!
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Bearxor said 10:07AM on 8-27-2009
My switch machine was a MacBook Pro in 2007 running Tiger.
But, I had been working at a newspaper where we used all flavors of MacOS, all the way back to 7. So by the time I officially switched, I was pretty well-versed in MacOS.
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SaboCat said 4:35PM on 8-27-2009
I had some sort of mac when I was in kindergarten (back in 1987). After that I was a PC person through high school, college, and even the few years after. I finally convinced myself to buy a MacBook Pro last October because of the time I spend editing video (my gateway would just burn up and shut down). And I have to admit, that I have loved it.
Dan said 10:16AM on 8-27-2009
First used a Mac SE under System 5. System 7 was a major leap and I still remember the two page full-color spread Apple paid for in USA Today on May 13, 1991. System 7 was to Macs as Windows 3.0 was to PCs.
I've used System 1.0 on a 400K MFS 3.5" floppy a few times.
MacOS X -- any version (but especially Tiger onwards) rocks, though. :)
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Joshua Ochs said 10:42AM on 8-27-2009
Thank you. All these whippersnappers who think "Even if you've been on the Mac since the OS 9 days" is a long time.
*looks at Mac Plus with 20MB HD on his desk* (still works!)
Hmph. Now get off my lawn.
Finn said 1:40PM on 8-28-2009
What Joshua said; Mac Plus with 20MB, zero footprint Rodime HD running System 4.
Remember when MultiFinder was a godsend? :)
Get off my lawn, too!
chrisf said 10:09AM on 8-27-2009
It seems like different people have had both good and bad experiences dealing with the geniuses. I've always dealt with the geniuses, personally. For my first mac (white macbook), I received a new keyboard and top case for the staining problem, a new battery when the first one lost its charge, a new screen when the old one developed a few anomalies in it, and another new keyboard/top case when the second one developed cracks. I also got a new adapter for a macbook air when the old one started getting too hot.
Each time I received the replacement with very little runaround, even for the cosmetic issues. Your experiences may vary from genius to genius and for the variety of issues you may see them for, but I think if you're polite and make appointments, they will treat you very well.
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Tetzel1517 said 10:26AM on 8-27-2009
The first Mac I owned ran System 9 (ever so briefly... I got it mere weeks before OS X came out), but I spent the bulk of my senior year of college using the Mac at my college newspaper to write tons of term papers. So while I technically switched in 2001, I was really already fully on board in late 1999/early 2000 -- I just didn't have the cash to plunk down for a machine of my own!
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Winski said 10:29AM on 8-27-2009
Our first Mac was purchased in October, 1984. Our first system was System 4. It was on a 400k floppy. We got the upgrade for System 6. I still remember MacWrite and MacPaint as being amazing apps for their time!
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Heath said 10:33AM on 8-27-2009
I started on Macs in December 1994 when my Dad bought me one for Christmas that year. I had just started college and needed something newer than our 1985 IBM.
I bought OS X 10.0 when it came out March 2001 but didn't 100% jump in (I was switching between OS 9 and OS X) until Final Cut Pro became 100% compatible which I think was 2003... before Panther. Maybe 2002?
heath
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Schmedely said 10:40AM on 8-27-2009
I never switched, my first Apple was an Apple II in 1979. Been using Macs since 1984. First time using OSX was the public beta included with my shiny new iMac Bondi Blue G3 back in 2000...
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Robert said 10:36AM on 8-27-2009
I remember thinking Apple was silly for de-emphasizing the stripple pattern in Panther. The stripple pattern was very iconic and a huge departure from the look-n-feel of any other OS. In retrospect, Panther's stripple looks 1000 times more clean, and the current look is 1000 times better than that. It's funny how sensibilities change over time.
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Kate said 10:43AM on 8-27-2009
My first experience was with an original iMac running OS 9. I owned it for a few months but couldn't get used to it.
I tried Macs again with a 2003 iBook (dual-USB!) that came with the Panther up-to-date disc. Haven't looked back since despite a torturous couple of years with an iMac G5 from hell. The iMac is dead and replaced with a 2009 Mac mini but the iBook is still alive and kicking six years later.
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Tom said 10:43AM on 8-27-2009
I had experiences with a Mac starting around System 6, but never personally owned one until 10.1 was out. I bought my switcher machine, a used graphite iMac DV Pro. It proved to me that OS X and the apps were worth digging into more. I sold the old iMac off and got a used G4 Cube next to attach to my LCD alongside my PC.
Pretty quickly, the only use of the PC became games. And once Apple switched to Intel, I started replacing PC hardware with Mac hardware. I now have the best of both worlds in one system, and once FastTrack tech comes out from Parallels, I won't even need to boot directly into Windows anymore.
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Asg said 10:45AM on 8-27-2009
The first mac I ever used was the Apple II, followed by the Mac IIgs, which I believe was running OS 7 at the time? I could be wrong it was a rather long time ago.
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Bigboy said 10:51AM on 8-27-2009
Mac IIgs? There was an Apple IIgs, but no Mac IIgs.
I had a IIgs too, but was able to upgrade to a IIci running System 6. Color!
Asg said 11:00AM on 8-27-2009
Must have been an Apple 2gs. I must admit I was fairly young when we had it.
eyerot said 10:47AM on 8-27-2009
Don't be so hard on yourself, Aron. You aren't merely a "relative Mac newbie." You're a full fledged, wet behind the ears, "why yes, in fact I *was* born yesterday" n00b extraordinaire. Don't sell yourself short.
Agreda ought to lock you up in the closet for a week with nothing but an SE booting System 6 and an ADB telegraph key, so you can learn how to blog in morse code like we did in the old days.
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LD said 10:58AM on 8-27-2009
My switch was an iBook shipped with 10.3 in 2004. I then ordered a Mac Mini, also with 10.3, but the day Tiger was released so I put the upgrade immediately on it.
I had grown up with Apples and Macs in school. I used Macs all through high school to publish the school paper. But it wasn't until 2000 while working at a NAS startup that I really got to play with a modern Mac. I was authorized to go buy as many iMacs as I could find to do some performance testing with AFP (netatalk) against our NAS. We had a small but significant customer base with Macs so I "developed" support for netatalk with our product.
The iMacs came with OS9 and OS X. It was a great experience using them and made we want to switch, which I finally did a few years later.
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glad said 11:01AM on 8-27-2009
I started with an old Mac Classic (love that machine and still have it) running OS 7 but then I got hold of desktop mac and started with 0S8, which in comparison with windows whatever was like another world. This was in 2004 and i've never gone back love the mac os snow leopard should be awesome. Getting my mac on the web using an ordinary modem and some trial and error cables was oh so satisfying as it mesantr I diodn't get ripped off ny mac dealers. Seeing the auto-updates come through had me in awe of Apple.
as the song goes "it was oh so different then"
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René said 11:07AM on 8-27-2009
My first Mac was a Macintosh Performa 5200CD in 1995. It came with System 7.5.1. I was 15 back then and I remember my friends being really jealous because it could do things their lousy Windows 3.1 and later Windows 95 couldn't...
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