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Mac OS?

slooksterPSV

slooksterPSV

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Apr 17, 2004
3,545
309
Nowheresville
Ok now I'm using an emulated Mac with OS 7.5.5 Now my question is this. When they go up a whole number (7.0, 8.0, 9.0, 10.0 etc.) what does that mean? I mean 10.0 moves up and names the OS something different like Jaguar, Panther, Tiger etc. Why doesn't it update to like version 11 or 12? Just curious, I use a program called Dev-C++ and they like do the same thing, when patches come out for it it updates the version (right now its 4.9.8.9 I think) but when it moves up to 4.9.9.0 they hope ot have better things integrated like the new MingW and that. But why does Mac not just go up whole numbers because they're basically new operating systems.
 
OSX is actually a new rewritten OS. So basically it's OSX 1, OSX 2, OSX 3.
The older MacOS used have some consistency. Like a whole number update usually meant something big was added. I forget where, but I have seen a site that lists what was added in every OS, from System 1 through OSX

Also, OSX was planned since OS7 I believe. Though it was originally going to be Copland (OS8-ish) but they dropped that idea when Apple bought NeXT and used that OS for building OSX.
 
slooksterPSV said:
But why does Mac not just go up whole numbers because they're basically new operating systems.
Click to expand...

The reason is because apple uses OS X as a brand name. its not just a version number anymore. Thats why they call it OS X 10.1, OS X 10.2, OS X 10.3 and soon to be OS X 10.4. So apple does use version numbers, its jsut that the OS X brand name isn't going to be changed for a while. Probably they won't go to OS 11 (or XI or something completely different) until they have something that really requires them to do so.

As far as the old numbering system, they used to make every .5 release a major update. At least thats the way it was from Os 8 to OS 9.
 
strider42 said:
The reason is because apple uses OS X as a brand name. its not just a version number anymore. Thats why they call it OS X 10.1, OS X 10.2, OS X 10.3 and soon to be OS X 10.4. So apple does use version numbers, its jsut that the OS X brand name isn't going to be changed for a while. Probably they won't go to OS 11 (or XI or something completely different) until they have something that really requires them to do so.

As far as the old numbering system, they used to make every .5 release a major update. At least thats the way it was from Os 8 to OS 9.
Click to expand...
Prior to System 7, Apple introduced a new version of the Macintosh System approximately once per year. System 7.0.1, however, was not a bug-fix release. It saw major changes in the organization of the System Folder. For instance, System 7.0.1 moved fonts from the System file to the Fonts folder. System 7.1 was one of the most significant versions ever. It saw us through the 68k-PPC transition. System 7.5 incorporated a lot of Copland technologies. MacOS 8 was the last to support the 68k processor. MacOS 8.1 introduced the HFS+ file system. The bottom line is that there is no standard for version numbering or the changes in it. There have always been indications that MacOS X 10.x will be around for at least 10 years. With Apple's recent announcement that development of the OS will slow down, the last version of MacOS X 10.x may be 10.4, 10.5, 10.6, 10.7, 10.8, or 10.9. If each new version lasts as long as System 7.1, we may very well see MacOS X 10.x around for the next 20 years.
 
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