10 Years of Mac OS X

On September 13, 2000, Apple released Mac OS X, the long awaited successor to the Macintosh operating system. Mac OS X at that time was released however as a public beta, not ready for rigorous daily use, far from it. There was little to no supporting software, which would come much later as the OS matured.

It instead provided a preview as to what Apple has been working on for several years as they struggled to replace the aging Mac OS. It wasn’t until a few years later with the release of Mac OS X 10.3, also known as Panther, that Mac OS X was truly ready for full use, although with some concessions, 10.2 was workable.

Cats out of the bag

Apple’s releases were rapid. After the public beta, it released the full Mac OS X 10.0, codename Cheetah, in March of 2001, followed by version 10.1, (Puma) in September of the same year, 10.2 (Jaguar) in 2002, and 10.3 (Panther) in 2003. Since then Apple slowed down and released upgrades every 18 months or more. 10.4 Tiger wasn’t out until 2005, Leopard in 2007, and Snow Leopard in 2009.

Mac OS X has come a long way since its 10.0 origin. In 10 years it has gone through six additional revisions, each with new features, increased security, stability, and support. Its looks has gone through a massive transformation although the underlying elements are still recognizable.

What will become of Mac OS X ten years from now? Nine years ago Apple proclaimed the third golden age of PC in which the PC becomes the hub of a digital lifestyle. The strategy spawned the iLife software suite which adds tremendous value to every new Mac purchased.

However, things haven’t gone exactly according to Apple’s vision, although it still clings to that idea somewhat. The PC, while still far from being dead, is becoming less and less relevant as documents, images, videos, and other files are increasingly being stored on servers around the world, more commonly referred to as the cloud. Mobile devices are enjoying a resurgent as innovation in the desktop computing side stagnates.

The Mac platform itself however has thrived. Apple has successfully brought the Mac back to the public, probably beyond their wildest dreams. There are companies and campuses in which the Mac is the dominant or is a significant platform. It is increasingly becoming more acceptable to use Macs in the workplace despite Apple’s seeming lack of enterprise strategy, thanks to improvements in interoperability with other platforms and decreasing issues in file compatibility.

So on one hand we have a thriving computer business running on Mac OS X, but on the other, the need for it as a digital hub has diminished.

That Pesky iOS

At the same time, the iOS is becoming Apple’s dominant OS. The mobile devices market now holds significantly more importance to Apple than the Mac as Apple is able to dictate where the mobile market should go.
The iOS, released in 2007, steered the direction of the entire smartphone industry. From the messaging oriented view popularized by the BlackBerry, Apple went the other direction with apps and everyone followed suit. Everyone now has or is working on an application store, even RIM couldn’t stem the flow towards an app-based system.

With iOS firmly in place after three years and four releases, Apple should be better focused to work on the next iteration of Mac OS X. There are rumors that elements of iOS are going to creep into Mac OS  X as Apple delves further into touch-based computing. Apple is expected to deliver the next version of Mac OS X, 10.7, in 2011, ten years after the release of version 10.0 proper.

The old Mac OS lasted 18 years before Apple declared it dead in 2002. Will Mac OS X last just as long and hold its own or will it become marginalized as iOS takes over?