Mac (computer)

The first Macintosh computer, introduced in 1984

The Macintosh, or Mac, is a line of personal computers designed, developed, manufactured and marketed by Apple Computer that run the Macintosh operating system ("Mac OS"). Named after the McIntosh apple, the original Macintosh was released on January 24, 1984. It was the first commercially successful personal computer to use a graphical user interface (“GUI”) and mouse instead of the then-standard command line interface.

Following the Macintosh's introduction, Apple continued production and development of its Apple II family, the company's original product line and main source of income at the time (the Apple III and Apple Lisa lines failed, and consequently, were dropped early on). Despite soaring popularity and continued potential for technological advancement in the Apple II series, for years it was overshadowed and mostly ignored by Apple management while the company focused on the Macintosh, to the point the Apple II faded into obscurity and eventual discontinuation in 1993.

From then forward, the company's driving focus and only line of personal computers has been the Macintosh, although from time to time it has experimented with new products outside the personal computer market. The current range of Macintoshes varies from the "budget" Mac mini desktop to the mid-range server Xserve. Macintosh systems are mainly targeted towards the home, education, and creative professional markets; more recently, the Xserve G5 server has enabled Apple to gain entry to the corporate market.

The original Macintosh operating system underwent many major revisions. However, Mac OS 9.2.2, the last version, still lacked many modern operating system features. In 2001, Apple introduced the new BSD Unix-based Mac OS X, featuring improved stability, multitasking and multi-user capability, while supporting older “Classic” applications by providing a “Classic” compatibility layer. The current version of Mac OS X is Mac OS X v10.4 Tiger, which is sold preinstalled in all Macs (the Xserve comes with Mac OS X Server). To complement the Macintosh, Apple has developed a series of digital media applications (collectively the iLife suite), two applications that are geared towards productivity (the iWork suite), and software aimed at the creative professional market, including Final Cut Pro, Shake, and Aperture.

A significant difference between Macintosh computers and competitors' models (personal computers or PCs that run on the Intel/AMD chipsets and use Microsoft Windows, Unix or Linux operating systems), is that Apple oversees both the hardware and the OS; this is unique in the industry. Whereas the Windows OS is manufactured by Microsoft and the hardware by dozens of other parties, Apple facilitates all aspects of its hardware, and creates its own OS.

Current product line

Image	Name	Type	Market	Description
	Mac mini	Desktop	Consumer	The Mac mini is the cheapest Macintosh currently in production, and the only consumer Macintosh desktop that does not ship with a monitor. It uses a standard PowerPC G4 processor.
	iMac	Desktop	Consumer	The iMac is Apple's current flagship consumer desktop computer, powered by the Intel Core Duo CPU; the current models are the first in the Macintosh's history to use an Intel processor of any kind. Apple is claiming 2-3x performance gains over the previous model, the iMac G5, which is still listed on the online Apple Store.
	eMac	Desktop	Education	The eMac is a low-end desktop model originally intended for the educational market. It was sold freely to all markets from June 4th, 2004 to October 12th, 2005, but is now once again restricted to educational institutions only. It features a built-in CRT screen and a G4 processor.
	Power Mac	Desktop	Professional	The Power Mac is Apple's most expensive, high-end workstation computer. The top-of-the-line model currently features two, dual-core PowerPC G5 970MP processors, which Apple has dubbed the "Quad-Core," though this is a bit of a misnomer.
	iBook	Portable	Consumer	The iBook is Apple's consumer portable. It uses a PowerPC 7447A G4 processor at a lower clock rate than the more full-featured, professional PowerBook line. No word on when it will be converted to use Intel chips.
	PowerBook	Portable	Professional	The PowerBook is a high-end portable workstation computer which topped-out with the PowerPC G4. The PowerBook never used the G5 processor, reportedly because power consumption and overheating issues of the G5 made it impractical for portable applications. It is scheduled to be replaced by the Intel Core Duo-powered MacBook Pro, shipping in February 2006, which Apple is claiming to be 4x faster than the previous PowerBook G4s. However, the PowerBook is still available from Apple.
	MacBook Pro	Portable	Professional	The MacBook Pro is a high-end portable workstation computer which runs an Intel Core Duo-powered processor at either 1.67 or 1.83 GHz. The MacBook Pro also features a 15.4" TFT Screen, and a new innovation called MagSafe, which uses magnets to hold the power adapter in place. The model was announced in January 2006 and is shipping in February 2006. Apple is claiming it is 4x faster than the previous PowerBook G4s.
	Xserve	Server	Enterprise	The Xserve G5 is an enterprise-grade 1U rack-mount server, specifically marketed towards mission critical data centers and enterprise client services. It uses the PowerPC 970FX version of the G5.

The current iMac ships with the Mighty Mouse, a distinctive white keyboard, Bluetooth and AirPort cards, an internal iSight camera, the Apple Remote for use with Front Row, and a power cord. A Bluetooth wireless keyboard and mouse are available for additional cost. Although not all models currently come with all of these, it is possible that some of these accessories will come to be standard with other models. Like the Xserve, the iMac G5 uses the PowerPC 970FX G5; the new iMac uses the Intel Core Duo.

History

See also: History of Apple Computer

1979–84: Development and introduction

File:Mac Design Team.jpg

A part of the original Macintosh design team, as seen on the cover of Revolution in the Valley.
Left to right: George Crow, Joanna Hoffman, Burrell Smith, Andy Hertzfeld, Bill Atkinson, Jerry Mannock

The Macintosh project started in early 1979 with Jef Raskin, an Apple employee, who envisioned an easy-to-use, low-cost computer for the average consumer. In September 1979, Raskin was given permission to start hiring for the project, and he began to look for an engineer who could put together a prototype. Bill Atkinson, a member of the Lisa team—which was developing a similar but higher-end computer—introduced him to Burrell Smith, a service technician who had been hired earlier that year, as Apple employee #282. Over the years, Raskin hired a large development team that designed and built the original Macintosh hardware and software; besides Raskin, Atkinson and Smith, the team included Chris Espinosa, Joanna Hoffman, George Crow, Jerry Manock, Susan Kare, and Andy Hertzfeld.

Smith's first Macintosh board design was built to Raskin's specifications: it had 64 kilobytes of RAM, used the Motorola 6809E microprocessor, and was capable of supporting a 256 × 256 pixel black-and-white bitmap display (the final product used a 9", 512x342 monochrome display. Bud Tribble, a Macintosh programmer, was interested in running the Lisa's graphical programs on the Macintosh, and asked Smith whether he could incorporate the Lisa’s Motorola 68000 microprocessor into the Mac while still keeping the production cost down. By December 1980, Smith had succeeded in designing a board that not only used the 68000, but made it faster, bumping it from 5 to 8 Megahertz, a 60% clock speed increase; this board also had the capacity to support a 384 × 256 bitmap display. Smith’s design used fewer RAM chips than the Lisa, and because of this, production of the board was significantly more cost-efficient. At this time in December 1980, Smith's Macintosh (personally wire-wrapped by hand by Smith himself) was the only one in existence, though Brian Howard and Dan Kottke had already begun wire-wrapping their own. By this time Tribble had already written a boot ROM which filled the screen with the proverbial "hello," a 32 pixel-wide bitmap which demonstrated the Macintosh's sharp video. The final Mac design was self-contained and had far more programming code in ROM than most other computers; it had 128KB of RAM, in the form of sixteen, 64-Kbit RAM chips soldered to the logicboard. Though there were no memory slots, it was expandable to 512KB of RAM by means of soldering sixteen 256-Kbit RAM chips in place of the factory-installed chips. This was thanks to Burrell Smith's clever work- he routed a few extra lines on the PC board, making the 256-Kbit chips which were on the horizon useable in the Mac. This meant adventurous Mac users could upgrade their 128K Mac to 512K without buying a whole new machine. Steve Jobs was utterly against this at the time (because he didn't want people "mucking around inside the Mac," and because he wanted them to buy the 512K Mac after it came out), but Burrell slipped it in quickly and no one told Jobs, to the benefit of Macintosh owners.

The innovative design caught the attention of Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple. Realizing that the Macintosh was more marketable than the Lisa, he began to focus his attention on the project. Raskin finally left the Macintosh project in 1981 over a personality conflict with Jobs, and the final Macintosh design is said to be closer to Jobs’ ideas than Raskin’s. After hearing about the pioneering graphical user interface (GUI) technology being developed at Xerox PARC, Steve Jobs negotiated a visit to see the Xerox Alto computer and Smalltalk development tools in exchange for Apple stock options. The Lisa and Macintosh user interfaces were clearly influenced by the one designed at Xerox. Jobs also commissioned industrial designer Harmut Esslinger to work on the Macintosh line, resulting in the Snow White design language; although it came too late for the earliest Macs, it was implemented in most other mid- to late-1980s Apple computers. However, Jobs’ leadership at the Macintosh project was short lived; after an internal power struggle with Apple’s new CEO John Sculley, Jobs resigned from Apple in 1985, went on to found NeXT, another computer company, and did not return until 1997. Sculley completely undermined what the Mac team had been trying to do with the price of the Macintosh, when he artificially inflated the Mac's price from $1,995 to $2,495. The Mac team had been working incredibly hard to keep down the price in every aspect of its design, but neither Jobs nor anyone else was able to convince him otherwise, and the Mac launched at $2,495- twenty-five percent higher than intended.

The protagonist of Apple’s 1984 ad wielding a sledgehammer

The Macintosh was hinted at on January 22, 1984, with the now-famous 1984 Super Bowl commercial directed by Ridley Scott. The Mac itself was officially introduced and went on sale on January 24, 1984 for a retail price of $2,495, bundled with two useful programs designed to show off its interface: MacWrite and MacPaint. Although the Mac garnered an immediate, enthusiastic following, it was too radical for some. Because the machine was entirely designed around the GUI, existing text-mode and command-driven programs had to be redesigned and rewritten; this was a challenging undertaking that many software developers shied away from, and resulted in an initial lack of software for the new system. Many users, accustomed to the arcane world of command lines, labeled the Mac a mere "toy." In 2004, twenty years later, Apple annoyed some long-time Mac users by rerunning the 1984 commercial on its website, with an Apple iPod digitally inserted, worn by the woman.

1985–89: The desktop publishing era

In 1985, the combination of the Mac, Apple’s LaserWriter printer, and Mac-specific software like Boston Software's MacPublisher and Aldus PageMaker enabled users to design, preview, and print page layouts complete with text and graphics, an activity known as desktop publishing. Desktop publishing was unique to the Macintosh, but eventually became available for PC users as well. Later, programs such as Macromedia FreeHand, QuarkXPress and Adobe Illustrator strengthened the Mac's position as a graphics computer and helped to expand the emerging desktop publishing market.

The limitations of the first Mac soon became clear: it had very little memory, even compared with other personal computers in 1984, and could not be expanded easily; and it lacked a hard drive and the means to attach one easily. Although by 1985 the Mac’s base memory had increased to 512KB, and it was possible, although inconvenient and difficult, to expand the memory of a 128KB Mac, Apple realized that the Mac needed improvement in these areas. The result was the Macintosh Plus, released in 1986. It offered one megabyte of RAM, expandable to four, and a then-revolutionary SCSI parallel interface, allowing up to seven peripherals—such as hard drives and scanners—to be attached to the machine. Its floppy drive was increased to 800-kilobyte capacity. The Plus was an immediate success and remained in production for four years.

The Macintosh II, the first expandable Macintosh

Other issues remained, particularly the low processor speed and limited graphics ability, which had hobbled the Mac’s ability to make inroads into the business computing market. Updated Motorola CPUs made a faster machine possible, and in 1987 Apple took advantage of the new Motorola technology and introduced the Macintosh II, which used a 16MHz Motorola 68020 processor. This marked the start of a new direction for the Macintosh, as now, for the first time, it had open architecture with several expansion slots, support for color graphics and a modular break out design similar to that of the IBM PC and inspired by Apple's other line, the expandable Apple II series. Alongside the Macintosh II, the Macintosh SE was released, the first compact Mac with an internal expansion slot (SE aptly stood for System Expansion). The SE shared the Macintosh II’s Snow White design language, as well as the new Apple Desktop Bus mouse and keyboard that had first appeared on the Apple IIGS some months earlier.

With the new Motorola 68030 processor came the Macintosh IIx in 1988, which had benefited from internal improvements, including an on-board MMU. It was followed in 1989 by a more compact version with fewer slots (the Macintosh IIcx) and a version of the Mac SE powered by the 16MHz 68030 (the Macintosh SE/30). Later that year, the Macintosh IIci, running at 25MHz, was the first Mac to be “32-bit clean”, allowing it to natively support more than 8MB of RAM, unlike its predecessors, which had "32-bit dirty" ROMs. System 7 was the first Macintosh operating system to support 32-bit addressing. Apple also introduced the Macintosh Portable, a 16MHz 68000 machine with an active matrix flat panel display. The following year the 40MHz Macintosh IIfx, costing $13,000, was unveiled. Apart from its fast processor, it had significant internal architectural improvements, including faster memory and a pair of dedicated I/O (input/output) coprocessors.

1990–98: Growth and decline

The Macintosh Classic, Apple’s early 1990s budget model

The release of Microsoft Windows 3.0, widely seen as the first version of Windows to challenge the Mac, was released in May 1990, and created a usable and cheaper alternative to the Macintosh platform. Apple’s response was to introduce a range of relatively inexpensive Macs October 1990. The Macintosh Classic, essentially a cheaper version of the Macintosh SE, sold for $999, making it the cheapest Mac until the re-release (and subsequent price cut) of the 400MHz iMac in February 2001. The 68020-powered Macintosh LC, in its distinctive "pizza box" case, was available for $1800; it offered color graphics and was accompanied by a new, low-cost 512 × 384-pixel monitor. The Macintosh IIsi, essentially a 20MHz IIci with only one expansion slot, cost $2500. All three machines sold well, although Apple’s profit margin was considerably lower than on earlier machines.

1991 saw the much-anticipated release of System 7, a 32-bit rewrite of the Macintosh operating system that improved its handling of color graphics, memory addressing, networking, and multitasking, and introduced virtual memory. Later that year, Apple introduced the Macintosh Quadra 700 and 900, the first Macs to employ the faster Motorola 68040 processor. They were joined by improved versions of the previous year’s hits, the Macintosh Classic II and Macintosh LC II. The latter was upgraded to use a 16MHz 68030.

The PowerBook 150, the smallest of the second generation of PowerBooks

At the same time, the first three models in Apple's enduring PowerBook range were introduced—the PowerBook 100, a miniaturized Macintosh Portable built by Sony; the 16MHz 68030 PowerBook 140; and the 25MHz 68030 PowerBook 170. They were the first portable computers with the keyboard behind a palm rest, and with a built-in pointing device (a trackball) in front of the keyboard.

In 1992, Apple started to sell a low-end Mac, the Performa, through nontraditional dealers. At Apple dealers, a mid-range version of the Quadra series called the Macintosh Centris was offered, only to be quickly renamed Quadra when buyers became confused by the range of Classics, LCs, IIs, Quadras, Performas, and Centrises. As well as releasing several new Macintosh products, Apple unveiled the miniaturized PowerBook Duo range. This was intended to be docked to a base station for desktop-like functionality in the workplace. The PowerBook Duo was dropped from the Apple product line in early 1997.

The next evolutionary step in Macintosh CPUs was a switch to the RISC PowerPC architecture developed by the AIM alliance of Apple Computer, IBM, and Motorola. Since its introduction, the Power Macintosh line proved to be highly successful, with over a million units sold by late 1994, three months ahead of Apple’s one-year goal. In the same year, Apple released the second-generation PowerBook models, the PowerBook 500 series, which introduced the novel trackpad.

By 1995, Microsoft and Intel were rapidly eroding Apple’s market share with their Windows 95 and Pentium processors, both of which significantly enhanced the multimedia capability of the PC. In response, Apple started the Macintosh clone program to regain its foothold in the desktop computer market. This program lasted until August 1997, when negotiations between Apple and the clone makers to extend the licensing agreement broke down.

1999 to the present: new beginnings

File:Steve Jobs with iMac.jpg

Steve Jobs introducing the original iMac computer in 1998

In 1998, a year after Steve Jobs had returned to the company, Apple introduced an all-in-one Macintosh that was similar to the original Macintosh 128K: the iMac, a new design that did away with most Apple standard connections, such as SCSI and ADB, in favor of two USB ports. While technically not impressive, it featured an innovative new design—its translucent plastic case, originally Bondi blue and white, and later many other colors, is considered an industrial design hallmark of the late 1990s. The iMac proved to be phenomenally successful, with 800,000 units sold in 1998, making the company an annual profit of $309 million— Apple’s first profitable year since Michael Spindler took over as CEO in 1995. At MacWorld 2000, San Francisco, Steve Jobs bragged that they had sold over 1.35 million iMacs the previous quarter; one every six seconds. The Power Macintosh was redesigned along similar lines.

In 1999, Apple introduced a new operating system, Mac OS X Server 1.0 (codenamed Rhapsody), with a new GUI and powerful Unix underpinnings. Its NeXT-like GUI left many Mac users disappointed, and wondering what the next generation of the Mac OS GUI would look like. Mac OS X was based on NeXTSTEP, the operating system developed by Steve Jobs’ post-Apple company NeXT. Mac OS X was not released to the public until September 2000, as the Mac OS X Public Beta, with an Aqua interface, much different from Mac OS Server. It cost $29.99, and allowed adventurous Mac users to sample Apple's new operating system, and provide feedback to the company on what they wanted to see in the actual release.

The MacBook Pro is the first portable Macintosh to use Intel chips intended to be marketed to consumers. Shipping is scheduled to commence in Febuary 2006.

In mid-1999, Apple introduced the iBook, a new consumer-level, portable Macintosh that was designed to be similar in appearance to the iMac that had been introduced a year earlier. Six weeks after the iBook’s unveiling, more than 140,000 orders had been placed, and by October the computer was as much a sales hit as the iMac. Apple continued to add new products to their lineup, such as the eMac and Power Mac G4, as well make two major upgrades of the iMac. On January 11, 2005, Apple announced the release of the Mac mini priced at $499, the cheapest Mac to date.

In recent years, Apple has seen a significant boost in sales of Macs. Many claim that this is due, in part, to the success of the iPod. The term halo effect has been coined to indicate the effect of satisfied iPod owners, who purchase more Apple merchandise, on the overall sales made by Apple. The iPod digital music players have recaptured a brand awareness of the Macintosh line that had not been seen since its original release in 1984. From 2001 to 2005, Macintosh sales increased continuously on an annual basis. On October 11, 2005, Apple released its fourth quarter results, reporting shipment of 1,236,000 Macintoshes— a 48% increase from the same quarter the previous year. Starting with the introduction of the iMac Core Duo and the MacBook Pro on January 10 2006, Apple will gradually switch from PowerPC microprocessors to microprocessors manufactured by Intel. The transition of the rest of the Macintosh line is planned to be completed by the end of the year. It is possible that sales will temporarily decline as consumers wait to purchase future Macintosh products.

Timeline of Mac model families
See also: Timeline of the Apple II series, List of Mac models, and Timeline of Apple Inc. products

Source: Glen Sanford, Apple History, apple-history.com

Hardware

The current Macintosh product family uses many hardware components; among these are PowerPC processors, which were co-developed by Apple, IBM, and Motorola, and are currently produced by IBM and Freescale, a former division of Motorola. As of January 2006, Intel x86 processors are in Macs as well. All Macintosh models ship with 512MB RAM as standard, and as of October 12, 2005, the iMac G5 ships with the Apple Mighty Mouse, a touch-sensitive optical mouse with a miniature clickable trackball-like device that is produced by Apple. Current Macintosh computers use the ATI Radeon or nVidia GeForce series chips for graphics and include either a Combo Drive, a DVD player and CD burner all in one; or the SuperDrive, a dual-function DVD and CD burner. Macintoshes include two standard data transfer ports: USB, standardized in 1998 with the iMac; and FireWire, a less popular standard developed by Apple to support higher-performance devices.

Processor Architecture

The original MC68000 was a 16/32-bit (32-bit internal) CISC processor that ran at 8MHz in desktop systems, although the Macintosh Portable and PowerBook 100 both used a 16MHz version. The Macintosh II featured a full 32-bit Motorola 68020 processor, but the Macs at the time supported only 24-bit memory addressing, therefore using only a fraction of the chip's memory addressing capabilities. Macs with this limitation were referred to as “32-bit dirty”. The successor Macintosh IIx introduced the Motorola 68030 processor, which added a Memory Management Unit. The 68030 did not have a built-in floating point unit; thus, '030-based Macintoshes incorporated a separate unit—either the 68881 or 68882. Lower-cost models did without, although they incorporated an FPU socket, should the user decide to add one as an option. The first “32-bit clean” Macintosh that could use 32-bit memory addressing was the IIci. Later, Apple released the Macintosh IIfx, which not only contained a 40MHz 68030, but two MOS Technology 6502 processors (the primary CPU in the older Apple II line) as auxiliary controllers. In 1991 Apple released the first computers containing the Motorola 68040 processor, which contained the floating point unit in the main processor. Again, lower-cost models did not have FPUs, being based on the cut-down Motorola 68LC040 instead.

Since 1994 Apple has been using the PowerPC line of processors, starting with the PowerPC 601, which were later upgraded to the 603 and 604. In 1997, Apple introduced its first computer based on the significantly upgraded PowerPC G3 processor; this was followed in 1999 with the PowerPC G4. The latest generation of processor in use is the 64-bit PowerPC G5, introduced in 2003. During the transition to the PowerPC, Apple's "Cognac" team wrote a 68030-to-PowerPC translation routine that booted very early in OS loading. Initially they were having terrible problems with emulation speed; emulation is hardly ever speedy. However, they realized that they could exploit what was dubbed the "90/10 rule," which simply meant if you write a large program, you were running just 10% of the code 90% of the time. This freed up resources and clockcycles. The first version of the OS to ship with the earliest PowerPC systems was estimated to run 95% emulated. Later versions of the operating system increased the percentage of PowerPC native code until OS X brought it to 100% native.

On June 6, 2005, Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced that the company would begin transitioning the Macintosh line from PowerPC to Intel microprocessors, expected to be completed by the end of 2006, and demonstrated a version of Mac OS X running on a computer powered by an Intel Pentium 4 CPU. Intel-powered Macs will be able to run Macintosh software compiled for PowerPC processors using a dynamic translation system known as Rosetta. The reason for this switch concerns problems with the power consumption of the IBM G5 processors, coupled with IBM’s inability to deliver on the promised roadmap. The first Macintoshes with Intel processors were the iMac Core Duo and the MacBook Pro, both announced at the Macworld Conference and Expo in January 2006 and using the Core Duo processor.

Expandability and connectivity

A typical Universal Serial Bus (“USB”) Type A cable; the USB has become standard on modern Macintosh computers.

The earliest form of Macintosh expandability was the Processor Direct Slot (PDS), present from the SE onwards. It was basically a shortcut to the CPU socket, not a bus—which also meant that parts for the PDS slot were tied to a specific Macintosh model, with the notable exception of the LC PDS slot, which was standardized across the entire LC line. The PDS slot could be used for processor upgrades, the Apple IIe Card, or video cards. The last line of Macintoshes to have PDS slots was the first generation of the PowerMacs. The first Macintosh to feature a bus for expansion was the Macintosh II, in the form of six NuBus (parallel 32-bit bus) slots. The NuBus was abandoned in favor of PCI in the second-generation Power Macintoshes, and the G4 added an AGP slot for video cards. The latest G5s use PCI Express for graphics and expansion. For memory, Apple has used standard SIMMs (30 and 72-pin) and later DIMMs, with the notable exception of the Macintosh IIfx, which used special and very rare 64-pin SIMMs. Currently, the top-of-the-line G5 PowerMacs use 240-pin DDR2 SDRAM DIMMs.

The earliest Macintoshes used a special proprietary serial port for external floppy or hard drives, until SCSI was introduced with the Macintosh Plus. SCSI remained the Macintosh drive connection of choice until the PowerMac G3, when cheaper EIDE drives became standard. Current PowerMacs use SATA for internal hard drives, EIDE for internal optical drives and FireWire for external drives. For peripherals, the Apple Desktop Bus was introduced with the Macintosh II. It was the standard input connector until the Universal Serial Bus was introduced with the iMac. The last Macintosh to have ADB was the blue and white PowerMac G3 though the PCI-based G4 (the Yikes! board) had the circuitry for it. Other legacy Macintosh peripheral connectors include the serial GeoPort and the AAUI port for networking. For external video signals, Apple used a DB-15 connector on all models prior to the blue and white G3, which uses a VGA connector; the VGA was in turn dropped in favor of the Apple Display Connector in the PowerMac G4. On the most recent Macintoshes, Apple has used a standard or dual-link DVI connector.

Software

Operating system

Main article: Mac OS history

The original 1984 Mac OS desktop with the radically new graphical user interface.

File:System7screenshot.gif

System 7 was the first major upgrade of the Macintosh operating system. Note that the display is in 8-bit color.

File:MacOSX10.4.png

The Mac OS X v10.4 “Tiger” desktop. Although it has undergone many changes, some aspects remain, such as the menu bar at the top of the screen.

The Macintosh operating system was originally known as the System Software or more simply System. With the release of System 7.6, the official name became Mac OS. From 2001, the “classic” Mac OS was phased out in favor of the new BSD Unix-based Mac OS X. Apple had offered another UNIX system, A/UX, for its Macintosh servers earlier, but without much success. The Mac OS operating system is widely considered one of the main selling points of the Macintosh platform, and Apple heavily touts its releases with large special events and release-day events. Apple has generally chosen to stick with some loose user-interface elements in all of its releases, and many similarities can be seen between the legacy Mac OS 9 and the modern Mac OS X. Non-Apple operating systems for today’s Macintoshes include Linux and free BSD variants.

Mac OS was the first widely used operating system with a graphical interface. No versions of the “classic” Mac OS featured a command line. It was originally a single-tasking OS, but optional cooperative multitasking was introduced in System 5. The next major upgrade was System 7 in 1991, which featured a new full-color design, built-in multitasking, AppleScript, and more user configuration options. Mac OS continued to evolve up to version 9.2.2, but its dated architecture—such as using cooperative multitasking instead of the more modern preemptive multitasking—made a replacement necessary.

In March 2001, Apple introduced Mac OS X, a modern and more secure Unix-based successor, using Darwin, XNU and Mach as foundations. Mac OS X is directly derived from NeXTSTEP, the operating system developed by Steve Jobs’ company NeXT before Apple bought it. Older Mac OS programs can still run under Mac OS X in a special virtual machine called Classic, but this is only possible on Macintoshes using PowerPC processors, not on Macintoshes using Intel processors. A similar program to Classic, called Rosetta, will allow PowerPC programs to run on Intel machines. Even though Mac OS X was never certified as an UNIX implementation by The Open Group, it is now the most common Unix-based desktop operating system. Mac OS X is currently at version 10.4 (released on April 29 2005), code-named Tiger. The next version, Mac OS X v10.5, code-named Leopard, is scheduled to be released at the end of 2006.

Software history

Since its introduction, the Mac has been criticized for the lack of software available for its operating system. In 1984 it was apparent that a wider range of software was available for the IBM PC, because it used the most popular operating system of the time, MS-DOS. Apple struggled to encourage software developers to port software titles to the Macintosh; however, Bill Gates at Microsoft realized that the GUI would become an industry standard, and that his software would sell in large quantity if it were available for the Macintosh. In 1984 Microsoft Word and Microsoft MultiPlan were available, and were a large selling point for the Mac. However, it lacked games and business software. In 1985, Lotus introduced Lotus Jazz after the success of Lotus 1-2-3 for the IBM PC, although it was largely a flop.

In 1987, Apple spun off its software business as Claris. It was given the code and rights to several programs that had been written within Apple, notably MacWrite, MacPaint and MacProject. In the late 1980s, Claris released a number of revamped software titles; the result was the “Pro” series, including MacPaint Pro, MacDraw Pro, MacWrite Pro and FileMaker Pro. To provide a complete office suite, Claris purchased the rights to the Informix WingZ spreadsheet on the Mac, renaming it Claris Resolve, and added the new presentation program Claris Impact. By the early 1990s, Claris programs were shipping with the majority of consumer-level Macintoshes and were extremely popular. In 1991, Claris released ClarisWorks, which soon became their second best-selling program.

Today, all Macs come prepackaged with a suite of consumer-level applications called “iLife.” The first iLife application was iMovie, released in 1999 for use on the iMac DV. Next came iTunes, a digital jukebox designed to work with Apple’s iPod digital music player, and on January 7th, 2002, Apple released iPhoto, an easy-to-use, consumer-grade digital photo organizer. Finally, in 2004, Apple marketed these applications, as well as iDVD and GarageBand, into a $49 suite called iLife. Today, every Mac comes preinstalled with the iLife suite. It is intended to make the Mac versatile out of the box, by providing several high-value consumer media applications. The most popular tool in the suite is iTunes, now in a Windows version as well, and has spawned the most popular online music store, the iTunes Music Store.

Advertising

Page 1 of the 1984 "Macintosh Introduction" brochure published in Newsweek magazine.

Ever since the introduction of the Macintosh in 1984 with the 1984 commercial, Apple has been recognized for its efforts towards effective advertising and marketing for the Macintosh. A "Macintosh Introduction" 20-page brochure was included with various magazines in December 1983, often remembered because Bill Gates was featured on page 11. For a special post-election edition of Newsweek in November 1984, Apple spent more than US $2.5 million to buy all of the advertising pages in the issue (a total of 39). Apple also ran a "Test Drive a Macintosh" promotion that year, in which potential buyers with a credit card could trial a Macintosh for 24 hours and return it to a dealer afterwards. It began to look like a success with 200,000 participants, and Advertising Age magazine named this one of the 10 best promotions of 1984. However, dealers disliked the promotion and supply of computers was insufficient for demand, and many computers were returned in such a bad shape that they could no longer be sold.

In 1985 the "Lemmings" commercial aired at the Super Bowl; Apple went as far as to create a newspaper advertisement stating "If you go to the bathroom during the fourth quarter, you'll be sorry". It was a large failure and did not capture nearly as much attention as the 1984 commercial did. Many more brochures for new models like the Macintosh Plus and the Performa followed. In the 1990s Apple started the "What's on your PowerBook?" campaign, with print ads and television commercials featuring persons describing how the PowerBook helps them in their businesses and everyday lives. These included Frances Lear, Tama Janowitz, Michael O'Brien, Todd Rundgren, Art Monk, Martina Navratilova, Brian Durkin, and Henry Rollins. In 1995 Apple responded to the introduction of Windows 95 with both several print ads and a television commercial demonstrating its disadvantages and lack of innovation. In 1997 the Think Different campaign introduced Apple's new slogan, and in 2002 the Switch campaign followed.

Today, Apple focuses much of its advertising efforts around heavily hyped "special events," and keynotes at conferences like the Apple Expo and the MacWorld Expo. The events typically draw a large gathering of media representatives and spectators. In the past, special events have been used to unveil the Power Mac G5, the redesigned iMac, and many other Macintosh products.

Effects on the technology industry

Apple has introduced a number of innovations in direct relation to the Macintosh 128k that were later adopted by the rest of industry as a standard for the design of computers. Possibly Apple's number-one effect on the industry was the first large-scale use of a graphical user interface in operating system software. Today, almost every mainstream operating system relies on a graphical user interface, and many operating systems still echo the design of the original Macintosh graphical user interface, such as the use of the "double click," "drag and drop," and the mouse used for them. The Macintosh 128k also introduced software which allowed WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) text and graphics editing, alongside significant technical improvements such as long file names permitting whitespace and not requiring a file extension, 3.5" floppy disk drives as a standard component, 8-bit mono audio including built-in speakers, and an output jack as a standard feature.

The Macintosh platform has introduced many innovations and ideas that had significant effects on the computer industry, especially in the area of communications standards. One of the first was the Macintosh Plus, which successfully introduced the SCSI interface in 1986. The Macintosh IIsi and the Macintosh LC introduced standard audio in and out ports in 1990—today these ports are standard on the large majority of computers. Beginning with the iMac in 1998, Apple made the Universal Serial Bus a standard and introduced FireWire, a high-speed data transfer bus now popular in media-editing computers and almost all digital video cameras. Apple also innovated in the area of networking, with heavy marketing and early implementation of the existing standard IEEE 802.11b (AirPort) in the Macintosh portable lines in 1999. Additionally, the Macintosh platform introduced many of the storage devices that are now standard: In 1992, the Macintosh IIvx was the first computer to feature the CD-ROM drive as a standard feature. The iMac, debuting in 1998, was one of the first computers to have no floppy disk drive; today, almost no new computers come with one. Finally, the Power Macintosh G4 with its SuperDrive introduced the first relatively affordable DVD-R drive in 2001.

Apple has also contributed heavily to the field of mobile computing, and many features of their mobile computers have become the norm. The PowerBook 100, 140, and 170 set the ergonomic standard for the placement of the keyboard in 1991 by moving the keyboard behind a palm rest, rather than right at the bottom of the laptop. In 1991 the PowerBook 100 series featured the first built-in pointing device on a laptop: a trackball. The PowerBook Duo also introduced the idea of a dock/port replicate in 1992. One of the most important features ever added to the Macintosh PowerBook lineup was the first true touchpad as a pointing device on the PowerBook 500 in 1994; today, most laptops rely on it as their pointing device. More recently, the PowerBook G4 became the first full-size laptop computer to feature a widescreen display, in 2003 it became the first laptop computer with a 17-inch display, and in 2004 it became the first laptop computer to provide dual-link DVI.

There is much speculation as to why so many Macintosh features have been adopted by competitors. And although they have a history of including some of the best technology available to the consumer market, Macs- and their components- are often much more expensive than Windows PCs; as such, one could argue that Macintoshes brought what was to become standard earlier at a higher cost, and it is certainly true that it costs far more to develop something than to copy it — both in terms of actual resources, and "man-hours." Another view is that competitors were forced to copy the Macintosh for reasons of competition and business, and whether such innovations were superior is irrelevant. Mac advocates argue that their products are simply better.

Market share and demographics

Since the introduction of the Macintosh 128K in 1984, Apple has struggled to gain a significant share of the personal computer market. At first, the Macintosh lacked software, resulting in disappointing sales in 1985, when consumers realized that more software was available for the IBM PC. By 1985, only 500,000 Macs had been sold. Jobs had originally predicted that five million units would be sold within two years; sales eventually crossed the two million mark in 1988, and three years later, the installed base finally reached five million. By 1997, there were more than 20 million Mac users. By late 2003, Apple had 2.06% of the desktop share in the United States, which had increased to 2.88% by Q4 2004.

The actual installed base of Macintosh computers is extremely hard to determine, with numbers ranging from a conservative 3% to a very optimistic 16%.

Market research indicates that Apple draws its customer base from an unusually artistic, creative, and well-educated population, which may explain the platform's visibility within certain youthful, avant-garde subcultures. Furthermore, conventional wisdom holds that the platform appeals especially to the politically liberal-minded; even Steve Jobs speculates that “maybe a little less” than half of Apple's customers are Republicans, “maybe more Dell than ours.” This particular stereotype is reinforced, surely, by the company's pattern of political donations, by Al Gore’s membership on its board, and not least by Jobs’ personal history (most recently in his role as advisor to Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry). Nevertheless, well-known Mac users include the likes of conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh, an outspoken Apple evangelist, and even George W. Bush.

Advantages, disadvantages and criticisms

The original iMac shows many hallmarks of Macintosh design quality; the compact housing (note the absence of a tower) follows the tradition of the original Mac.

The Macintosh differs in several ways from personal computers which run Microsoft Windows. Both the hardware and bundled software, including the operating system, are manufactured by Apple Computer, whereas Microsoft supplies any original equipment manufacturers including Dell, HP and IBM with the software, who make the hardware using a wider range of components. This results in a limited choice of Mac models compared to a huge variety of Windows-based PCs; however, it reduces conflict between software and hardware and has helped Apple's reputation for stability and reliability. The Unix-based operating system performs multi-user networking as standard. This less common operating system means that a much smaller range of third-party software is available, although suitable applications, such as Microsoft Office, are available in most areas; it has contributed to the current absence of the malware and spyware that plagues Microsoft Windows users.

Apple has a history of innovation and making bold changes that is met by strong uptake of software upgrades. The Classic application allows users to run "old" (Mac OS 9) applications on OS X computers, often as well as they ran natively on Mac OS 9, though without the advantages of a native OS X application. The Apple Intel transition starting in 2006 will not support Classic on new Intel Macs, and purchasers of these computers who are still using Classic applications will have to replace or upgrade this software. The transition will involve the recompilation of most OS X software to maximize performance; in the interim, unmodified OS X applications can run on the Intel chip under the emulation software Rosetta.

Notable litigation

The GEM 1.1 desktop was a modified illegal copy of the Mac OS; Apple sued on charges of "look and feel", and eventually won.

Main article: Notable litigation of Apple Computer

There have been many lawsuits centered around the Macintosh. These generally involve copyright infringement of the computer's look and feel. Apple successfully sued eMachines, whose eOne too closely resembled the then-new iMac. Apple also forced Digital Research to alter basic components in its Graphical Environment Manager ("GEM"), almost a direct copy of the Macintosh's.

The most important case involving the Macintosh—and some argue in all of computing—is Apple Computer, Inc. v. Microsoft Corp. In 1988, Apple sued Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard on the grounds that they were infringing upon Apple's copyrighted GUI design. Cited, among other things, was the use of rectangular, overlapping, and resizable windows. Apple lost the case after four years. Some say that Apple was at fault because they were hoarding a superior input system that would put all competitors out of business. Others say Microsoft was stealing Apple's idea, and it would be possible to create a GUI that would not infringe on their copyright.

See also

• The current Macintosh models:

• eMac (G4; education market only)
• iBook G4
• iMac G5
• iMac Core Duo
• Mac mini (G4)
• PowerBook G4
• MacBook Pro
• Power Mac G5
• Xserve G5

• A/UX
• List of Macintosh models grouped by CPU
• List of Macintosh software
• Mac rumors community
• Macintosh User Groups
• .Mac

Further reading

• Hertzfeld, Andy (2004), Revolution in the Valley, O'Reilly Books ISBN 0596007191
• Kahney , Leander (2004), The Cult of Mac, No Starch Press ISBN 1886411832
• Kawasaki, Guy (1989), The Macintosh Way, Scott Foresman Trade ISBN 0673461750
• Kelby, Scott (2002), Macintosh... The Naked Truth, New Riders Press ISBN 0735712840
• Levy, Steven (2000), Insanely Great: The Life and Times of Macintosh, the Computer That Changed Everything, Penguin Books ISBN 0140291776
• Linzmayer, Owen (2004), Apple Confidential 2.0, No Starch Press ISBN 1593270100

References

• MacTracker Macintosh model database, retrieved November 4, 2005
• folklore.org: Macintosh stories, retrieved November 9, 2005
• Guterl, Fred (December 1984): "Design case history: Apple's Macintosh". IEEE Spectrum. http://www.cs.ucla.edu/~klinger/mac.html
• Glen Sanford (2005): Apple History.
• Amit Singh (2005): A History of Apple's Operating Systems.
• Dan Knight (2005): Macintosh History: 1984.
• Linzmayer, Owen (2004): Apple Confidential 2.0, No Starch Press ISBN 1593270100
• Daring Fireball (24 July 2003): Market share
• News.com: Apple earnings sail past expectations

External links

• Apple Computer's Website
• Low End Mac - Apple history and Macintosh profiles
• The 1984 introduction of the Macintosh (QuickTime movie)
• Articles by Jef Raskin about the history of the Macintosh
• Making the Macintosh: Technology and Culture in Silicon Valley