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MacOS
X Server |
MacOS X, MacOS X is the next-generation consumer operating system which Apple hopes to release in "early 2000." MacOS X will be the long-awaited, long-delayed modern operating system for the Macintosh hardware product line, and will replace the current MacOS 8.x line as Apple's flagship OS. Pronounced MacOS "Ten," MacOS X hopes to be a marked improvement over the MacOS 7.x/8.x in many regards. Not only is it based on established object-oriented foundations, and solid UNIX underpinnings, but it will bring a "modern"ness to the MacOS which has not been seen before in any consumer-oriented Apple-branded operating system. Hoping to maintain the same ease-of-use and understanding as the current MacOS, MacOS X will bring features such as symmetric multiprocessing, memory protection, preemptive multitasking, advanced graphics, and top notch networking to the Macintosh platform in a hope to bring Apple on a par or beyond Windows 2000. Make no mistake - this will be Apple's consumer, networking and business OS all wrapped into one. Both professional and consumer lines will revolve around MacOS X, and vice versa. In fact, the future of MacOS X Server is as an add-on package to MacOS X Client. MacOS X will draw heavily from the Rhapsody/MacOS X Server project, but will enhance and change some key elements. MacOS X will introduce Carbon, the full introduction of the QuickTime APIs and other stalwart Apple technologies, a top notch Java implementation and more. MacOS X will also feature an entirely new user interface, which is being created from scratch to make the complex features of MacOS X intuitive and easy to use. MacOS Rumors has mentioned that there may be a possible public beta testing of MacOS X in the future, but the odds are long considering Apple's habit of keeping such software out of public avenues. If you would like to see the future today, take a look at MacOS X Server. At the 1999 Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple release MacOS X Client DP (Developer Preview) 1 to those in attendance, and will likely soon mail out copies to other developers not in attendance. Keep in mind that this page should be considered as a starting point for information, but not a repository of qualified fact. We are not rumor mongering, or speculating, but we do know that sometimes plans at Apple change or disappear. You can consider the information you find here the most up to date that we have found or heard of. |
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Basic features MacOS X will be a completely different operating system that any Mac user is likely accustomed to. One of the most useful features is a secure multi-user setup. Multi-user setups allow different users to log into the same computer, but you can control each users access and privileges. This is a must for an office environment, and is one of the most lacking features of the current MacOS. Another feature may be a built-in command line environment. Unlike MacOS X Server, MacOS X is being directly aimed at home users and education, so Apple is currently debating whether the consumer version of MacOS X should have a CLI. Many tasks which would require a CLI will be accomplished via the improved MacOS X GUI and the enhanced AppleScript which will serve with MacOS X. The lack of a pronounced CLI is a very important feature of MacOS X and should not be overlooked. [Note: Some believe that Apple will include a CLI environment for MacOS X as an extra on the installer CD, but not as a marketable feature of the consumer release.] MacOS X will, unlike MacOS X Server, ship with a Finder. The new Finder will be written completely in Carbon, and tweaked to function with additional file systems (such as NFS and UFS) and other file formats. Since the MacOS X Finder will be written in Carbon, look for the Finder to be much faster and stable than the current MacOS 8.x Finder. However, some Mac users may not be happy with the current state of the new Carbonized Finder. The Finder in MacOS X Developer Preview 1 is a combination Workspace Manager and MacOS 8.x Finder. While not unusable as many feel MacOS X Server's Workspace Manager, the new Finder is definitely different. Time will tell how the Finder will progress by the time MacOS X actually ships. Unlike the comparably complex MacOS X Server, MacOS X should be just as easy to use as MacOS 8.x. Apple knows that this is one of the keys to getting the new technology accepted by constituents, and to maintain Apple's quality work in Human Interface design and ease-of-use. One very important thing to remember is that Apple is working very hard to bring MacOS X as close to the current MacOS 8.x appearance and look and feel as possible without sacrificing power or flexibility. That is, MacOS X will clearly utilize Apple's platinum appearance, and will have a number of user-controlled appearance functionality much like the MacOS 8.x Appearance Manager. Also, MacOS X will have many of the old standards of MacOS 8.x: Sherlock, QuickTime 4, Stickies, CD/DVD player, and much much more. The transition to MacOS X is supposed to be as absolutely painless as possible. This is because when MacOS X ships, all new Apple computers will ship with MacOS X installed on them. And since Apple is very consumer oriented, don't look for iMacs to ship with a hard-to-use operating system. |
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CPU model support The single most debated decision in recent times is Apple's decision to support MacOS X only on G3 (or higher) processor-based hardware, including both PowerBook G3's and PowerMac G3's. This has upset a number of people who have bought high-end models, such as 9600/350's, in the past couple of years. The G3-only policy is not a matter of spite or money-grubbing desire as many say it is. It would be naive to say that those motives had nothing to do with the equation, but this new operating system will require some serious horsepower to make it run on par with Windows NT and other leading platforms. By only supporting the present crop of computers, Apple draws a line in the sand that says "we are committed to making this a serious product." The support issue centers on the support of certain motherboards, and not about certain processors. But public and private reports intimate that the subject is not a closed subject at Apple. If you would like to voice your opinion, feel free to e-mail Apple directly. There is no planned Intel hardware version of MacOS X. If you would like to speak out on that, you can also feel free to share your opinions with Apple on this matter. |
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Peripheral support Apple will soon enough (though not soon enough) introduce a new driver kit for MacOS X, called IOKit. The new driver kit will be a completely object-oriented driver kit, and will utilize a language called Embedded C++ (EC++). New drivers will be written to fit in one of a number of groups, such as USB or FireWire. More information will be included when we learn more about IOKit. As for the end-user's point of view, as a user you can expect support for:
The specifics of individual support will not be known for some time, so this list should not be considered as fact, but a very reasonable guess. Some of the touchier issues include how Apple will work with third parties to ensure drivers for PCMCIA cards and non-Apple PCI cards. |
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Modern OS features MacOS X will introduce some serious "modern" features to the Macintosh platform. Preemptive multitasking, symmetric multiprocessing and full memory protection will be implemented seamlessly in MacOS X. Not only will this additional functionality benefit users, but it might also help to attract developers to this new modern OS. Symmetric multiprocessing seems to be the biggest step for Apple. With the adoption of SMP, Apple will be able to ship multi-processor hardware for use as graphics workstations, high-power, servers, and more. Apple has yet to completely commit to total SMP for the first release of MacOS X. |
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Core Operating System The core operating system for MacOS X is remarkably different than that of the current MacOS, and similar but not identical to that of MacOS X Server. MacOS X will use an enhanced version of the Mach 3.0 kernel for its kernel needs. This is a change from MacOS X Server, which utilizes what Apple people described as Mach 2.5+, and will help Apple to bring MacOS X more modern by utilizing many of the 3.0 kernel improvements. On top of the Mach kernel is all of the other "proper OS" functionality, including:
A major change from MacOS X Server is the addition of "Carbon" and the removal of the Blue Box. Instead of providing developers and users with the option of just using the old MacOS, Apple will instead push this new set of APIs. However, the Classic Environment will allow users to continue using MacOS applications written with 680x0 code in them and non-Carbonized applications. Carbon is a major rewrite of the current MacOS APIs. Many programming functions have been dropped, and other functions have been added to accommodate the new operating system. Carbon will be fully reentrant and will support the powerful features which are at the core of MacOS X itself. For a better explanation of Carbon, please visit the Tweak File entry. |
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Cocoa At the 1999 WWDC, Apple announced that they will be taking the technology known as Yellow Box, and add some goodies to it, and bundle it under the name of Cocoa. What's this mean? Well, Apple is looking to deliver the YellowBox APIs to as many people as will developer for them. So, Apple will bundle these APIs with Objective-C and Java access so that developers may use whatever language they feel most comfortable programming in. In this regard, Apple is looking to bring new developers to the platform. Cocoa will also no longer use Display PostScript, but will instead have its own display system which will utilize Quartz. There were no plans, and there are no plans anticipated, announced for a Windows version of Cocoa. This is, as always, a very large sticking point for numerous Cocoa developers who really need to deploy their applications onto WindowsNT systems. Apple has said that much of the reason for the long delay centers on Apple's inability to figure out how to market and price the Cocoa/Win package. |
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Graphics Another interesting change is the graphics display system. MacOS X will use neither of the display systems from the two current Apple operating systems. MacOS 8.x uses the long-time Macintosh display system knows as QuickDraw. MacOS X Server uses a display system knows as Display PostScript, a graphical version of the acclaimed Adobe PostScript laguage. Instead Apple has decided to go ahead and create a better display solution. One of the problems with Display PostScript is that every copy of DPS meant that a licensing fee had to be paid to Adobe. One of the problems with QuickDraw is that it just wasn't powerful enough or sufficiently celerous for most functions. Combined with a number of other considerations, Apple has decided to go with Quartz, formerly known as Enhanced QuickDraw, as its primary 2D display system. Quartz will be the display engine for both Carbon and YellowBox applications. It will include a number of the powerful elements in Display PostScript and QuickDraw, and will expand on them as well. The adoption of Display PostScript elements has led Apple to the decision to change the default system picture format from the PICT format used in MacOS 7.x/8.x to the Portable Document Format (PDF). Quartz is based on Adobe's PDF standard, and will give Apple a modern, powerful, and rich graphics display system. During the 1999 Worldwide Developer Conference keynote, those in attendance were shown Quartz in action. Some of the more impressive features include system-wide alpha channels, compositing, anti-aliasing, and drag-and-drop support for PDF files. Well, if Quartz is the 2D library, what about 3D? Earlier this year, Apple formally announced that Apple will be moving toward OpenGL as its 3D subsystem. Not only is OpenGL amazingly popular among those in the know, but it is also widely regarded as the best and most powerful 3D library around today for use with today's personal computers. The integration of OpenGL in MacOS X will be seamless. While the details will be made clearer following the WWDC later this month, the integration of OpenGL in MacOS X has been touted as one of the more important additions to the platform for the average developer/gamer. The future of QuickDraw 3D on MacOS X is a big ? |
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File System Support Users who actually care what their file systems their computer supports will love MacOS X. Known supported formats already include:
Other file systems, like FAT16, FAT32, and NTFS are also possibilities for support. A brewing question is what file system will be used with MacOS X Server. In MacOS X Server, HFS(+) support is present for Apple-related files sharing and Netbooting, but there are some grumblings that Apple will utilize HFS+ as the default file system for MacOS X. |
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Networking Networking in MacOS X will be considerably different than networking in the MacOS currently. Instead of continuing the use of Open Transport as the networking stack of choice, Apple will apparently use BSD 4.4 Sockets. The BSD Sockets were chosen for many reasons, such as security, performance, and industry standards. However, Apple is striving to keep old networking code usable under MacOS X. Much of the programming interface in Open Transport will be available to Carbonized applications on MacOS X. It is unclear (to us) as to whether Apple has written a streams implementation to run on top of the sockets, or if they have kept the OpenTransport APIs and reengineered the inner workings of the system calls. As it is in MacOS X Server and, of late, MacOS 8.5/8/6, networking speed is of utmost importance, and Apple will look to continue to improve on newly found ability to serve and share data on networks at speeds equal to and faster than comparable Unixes and WindowsNT. Also, look for MacOS X to be fully equipped with a number of the most widely used networking protocols. By reason, since MacOS X will replace MacOS 8.x, it should support BootP, DHCP, AppleTalk, and PPP. |
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Backwards Compatibility This is a question mark right now. Outside of Carbon, Apple doesn't require, or provide, any backwards compatibility in MacOS X. One case which isn't mentioned much is MacOS X Server application compatibility. More on this as info becomes available. In fact, the Carbon implementation will be the most important part of the forward progression of the Macintosh platform. It will allow users to continue using their favorite Mac programs (slightly tweaked) on MacOS X along side their new favorite Yellow MacOS X applications. How well this will work will be shown when Apple is closer to releasing the software. Many reports point also to a continuation of the Blue Box
in MacOS X. While the implementation's actual setup varies
minute-to-minute in the press, a possible transparent Blue
Box to run applications which won't be ported to Carbon is
possible. We'll see. Another interesting tidbit is that Apple recently
proposed a standard to the ISO (international standards
organization) which would set a common foundation for binary
Linux code which may help to open up more doors for
compatibility. And, of course, YellowBox applications should work nearly
the same, with most likely a simple recompile depending on
such as-yet-unreleased details, such as the hierarchy of the
system's files in MacOS X. Apple will most likely work very
diligently to make MacOS X Server look the same as MacOS
8.x, and as such, will probably use a "System Folder"
approach to the operating system. As such, some files may be
located in different places on the hard drive than would be
in MacOS X Server or any other operating system. Such a
decision and engineering question will be answered as some
point in the future. While many back-end engineering details
will be unreleased for some time, it is guaranteed that
Apple will have tools to bring Yellow apps easily and
harmlessly to MacOS X. Of note, however, is something which has gotten relatively little press. MacOS X will ship without a 680x0 emulator, and therefore will be unable to run Classic 68k applications out of the box. (For those of you who are interested in what that means for applications which make numerous Mixed Mode calls, this does not mean that 68k Mixed Mode calls will be unusable. Due to the engineering of the Mixed Mode Manager, 68k will be accepted and usable, just not recommended.) This may end up being a source of grumbling for a majority of the Mac users who will unwittingly upgrade their computers only to find that a majority of their older software does not work. However, the Classic Environment should ship with a 68k emulator in it's ROM image, and will make this a non-issue. There are also rumors that Connectix may port their own 68k emulator to function in MacOS X. More news as we find it… |
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Java Steve Jobs knows that a speedy, full implementation of the latest version of Java will make some people jump at the chance to use MacOS X. Jobs has promised that Apple is committed to make Java one of the top priorities for the MacOS X team. The work by the MRJ team has been amazing on that end, and should be even better in MacOS X with Enhanced QuickDraw's additional features which will speed Java AWT rendering. Since MacOS X and Quartz are not-yet-ready-for-primetime players, it would be inaccurate to speculate on how fast the implementation will be in the new OS, but many point to the work already done by Apple with the current MRJ implementation. Apple has also given access to the YellowBox APIs via Java, and will push this as part of the new "Cocoa" strategy as noted above. Many applications shipping with MacOS X Server are already utilizing Java-YellowBox. At the 1999 WWDC, there was a Java demonstration to show off how fast Apple's own work is progressing. Jobs said that Apple is committed to eventually releasing a Java 2 VM, but after talking to users and developers alike, Apple will be committing its resources to turning out a high-quality Java 1.x VM first. Most programmers are still hesitant at putting forth major efforts to use Java 2 since the new standard has numerous speed and usabilities issues which need to be resolved. However, Apple does have a very early development version of a Java 2 VM which was shown off during the keybote address. Apple will try to ship a Java 1.1.8 VM with MacOS X. More news about the inclusion of Java into the OS will be added as it becomes known, such as which version of Java will be included with MacOS X, how celerous the Java virtual machine might be, and the possibility to use Java "natively". |
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Miscellaneous Some other notes about MacOS X:
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All content - ©1998-1999 - Mark J. Hershenson
