#Mac os systems mac os x#
#Mac os systems mac os#
#Mac os systems code#
#Mac os systems windows#

Previous Macintosh operating systems (versions of the classic Mac OS) were named using Arabic numerals, as with Mac OS 8 and Mac OS 9.

However, it is also commonly pronounced like the letter 'X'. The letter 'X' in Mac OS X's name refers to the number 10, a Roman numeral, and Apple has stated that it should be pronounced 'ten' in this context.

#Mac os systems mac os x#

Mac OS X was originally presented as the tenth major version of Apple's operating system for Macintosh computers until 2020, versions of macOS retained the major version number '10'.

#Mac os systems code#

The project was first code named ' Rhapsody' and then officially named Mac OS X. This purchase also led to Steve Jobs returning to Apple as an interim, and then the permanent CEO, shepherding the transformation of the programmer-friendly OPENSTEP into a system that would be adopted by Apple's primary market of home users and creative professionals. This led Apple to purchase NeXT in 1996, allowing NeXTSTEP, then called OPENSTEP, to serve as the basis for Apple's next generation operating system. Throughout the early 1990s, Apple had tried to create a 'next-generation' OS to succeed its classic Mac OS through the Taligent, Copland and Gershwin projects, but all were eventually abandoned. Its graphical user interface was built on top of an object-oriented GUI toolkit using the Objective-C programming language. The kernel of NeXTSTEP is based upon the Mach kernel, which was originally developed at Carnegie Mellon University, with additional kernel layers and low-level user space code derived from parts of BSD. There, the Unix-like NeXTSTEP operating system was developed, before being launched in 1989. The heritage of what would become macOS had originated at NeXT, a company founded by Steve Jobs following his departure from Apple in 1985. Simplified history of Unix-like operating systems In 2020, Apple began the Apple silicon transition, using self-designed, 64-bit ARM-based Apple M1 processors on the latest Macintosh computers.

In 2006, Apple transitioned to the Intel architecture with a line of Macs using Intel Core processors. MacOS has supported three major processor architectures, beginning with PowerPC-based Macs in 1999. After sixteen distinct versions of macOS 10, macOS Big Sur was presented as version 11 in 2020, and macOS Monterey was presented as version 12 in 2021. Apple shortened the name to 'OS X' in 2012 and then changed it to 'macOS' in 2016 to align with the branding of Apple's other operating systems, iOS, watchOS, and tvOS.

Ī prominent part of macOS's original brand identity was the use of Roman numeral X, pronounced 'ten' as in Mac OS X and also the iPhone X, as well as code naming each release after species of big cats, or places within California. Apple's mobile operating system, iOS, has been considered a variant of macOS. All releases from Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard and after are UNIX 03 certified, with an exception for OS X 10.7 Lion. The first desktop version, Mac OS X 10.0, was released in March 2001, with its first update, 10.1, arriving later that year. During this time, Apple cofounder Steve Jobs had left Apple and started another company, NeXT, developing the NeXTSTEP platform that would later be acquired by Apple to form the basis of macOS. MacOS succeeded the classic Mac OS, a Macintosh operating system with nine releases from 1984 to 1999.

#Mac os systems windows#

Within the market of desktop and laptop computers it is the second most widely used desktop OS, after Microsoft Windows and ahead of Chrome OS. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. MacOS ( / ˌ m æ k oʊ ˈ ɛ s/ previously Mac OS X and later OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc.