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The infobox for the Mac OS lists kernel as "Monolithic, later nanokernel". Just out of curiosity, when exactly did the Mac OS use a nanokernel? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Mipadi ( talk • contribs) 21:43, 1 January 2006 (UTC)
How is the original Mac OS kernel a monolithic kernel? If you look at the definition of a monolithic kernel there are significant omissions in the Mac OS kernel - and the existence of extensions calls this into even more doubt. Can someone corroborate this definition? Djm63y2k ( talk) 19:47, 26 October 2013 (UTC)
We really should have an article devoted to Classic Mac OS, even though the term is not used in the official Apple documentation, which prefers the cumbersome locution “versions of Mac OS prior to OS X”. Everybody knows what Classic Mac OS means, and it is universally used in the non-Apple technical literature, for example the recent book by Hillegass and Dalrymple on OS X programming. Also, from an operating systems viewpoint, Classic Mac OS and Mac OS X are completely different, though of course there is continuity if one views them as desktop environments.
We should also have a Classic Mac OS category, where we can put things like ResEdit, MacsBug, System Folder, and Mac OS memory management (the last article should be renamed).
The question is, do we move this article, or create a new one? Moving this article would make sense, as the infobox is clearly devoted to Classic Mac OS, stating as it does that 9.2.2 is the last stable version. On the other hand, it would require a rewrite, specifically removing the OS X section. Thoughts? Brian Tvedt 10:54, 18 April 2006 (UTC)
The article incorrectly states that PowerPC-based Macs ship with OS 9.2 which is wrong as only PowerPC up to the G4 can run OS 9, the G5 cannot.
I notice that there is a disambiguation page for 'Applesoft' that links both to Applesoft BASIC (what I think of as 'Applesoft') and to this page ... yet there is absolutely no mention of the word 'Applesoft' on this page. If indeed the Mac OS division was referred to as 'Applesoft', this is the first I've heard of it, which doesn't necessarily mean I'm wrong, but if it was, then it should be mentioned on this page, and if it isn't then there shouldn't be a disambiguation for it, which just results in mystification. I don't know what the policy is, but there shouldn't be any information disseminated on a disambiguation page ALONE by my way of thinking, especially by way of associating a term obliquely with something that most people familiar with the word would never think of it as referring to. If there is a reference to Applesoft vis-a-vis the Mac OS, then it should be cited here. If not, then the term should be undisambiguated, IMHO.-- 206.248.134.152 05:00, 2 September 2006 (UTC)
Hm. Are there any experts around who can explain what that thing is that you get with the key combo cmd + power (and occasionally with program crashes)? It definitely looks like a command line of some sort, altho I've never been able to figure out if actually does anything. ("G" will exit, tho.) So is this a "secret command line" or something yet more arcane? -- Tropylium 19:49, 17 June 2007 (UTC)
Someone can tell me, please, if i have an APPLE Notebook with Mac operating system installed, can i delete it and install windows xp? Teo
Image:MacOS 152mm 4c.png is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.
Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Wikipedia:Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.
If there is other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images uploaded after 4 May, 2006, and lacking such an explanation will be deleted one week after they have been uploaded, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.
BetacommandBot 04:57, 16 September 2007 (UTC)
"The original form of what Apple would later name the "Mac OS" was the integral and unnamed system software first introduced in 1984 and later in 1997 with the original Macintosh."
In what way was the original system software reintroduced in 1997? This nonsensical assertion needs to be either clarified or removed.
—
überRegenbogen (
talk) 21:53, 17 August 2008 (UTC)
7.6 was not the first use of the name "Mac OS". The first was Mac OS 7.5.1 (although 7.6 was the first /boxed/ version to display the new moniker on its packaging. Upon booting 7.5.1, the screen will say "Welcome to Mac OS". The name did not surprise many Mac aficionados, as "MacOS" (no space) was already in use colloquially. Walter Ian Kaye 04:05, 9 September 2009 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Boodlums ( talk • contribs)
The previous 'discussion' under this title was about numbers of users still using Mac OS. While I have no numbers, the anecdotal evidence provided is almost meaningless. There are hold-out, but they have been vastly outnumbered for years.
Not my main point, though.
The article claims that some users held out because OS X ran more slowly on their hardware. This simply is not true. Users held out because of familiarity with Mac OS, because their hardware was not compatible, or because there wasn't equivalent OS X native software that replaced what they needed. In no case did any mac hardware run more slowly running OS X than running Mac OS. That includes hardware that apple would not officially support for upgrading, but could still be upgraded. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Soch ( talk • contribs) 16:46, 4 December 2009 (UTC)
Possible vandalism? claims apple claim that the mac OSX(10) does not crash, this is true can be a fib at times —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.60.210.32 ( talk) 19:24, 6 December 2010 (UTC)
Why is the main screenshot of the Mac OS article of a version that Apple hasn't even finished yet? When people say "Mac OS" they most often think Mac OS Classic. Shouldn't the main screenshot be of an older version of Mac OS? Or at very least, Snow Leopard, which is the current version. Althepal ( talk) 22:51, 25 January 2011 (UTC)
A common misconception among Mac users is that Mac OS is immune to viruses. Unfortunately viruses do exist for Mac OS though they are few in number. Below is a list of some of the most commonly found Mac Viruses over the past several years.
In 2006 there was a Trojan worm discovered known as OSX/LEAP that used iChat as its method of transfer. If an infected computer would iChat a friend a message would show up on the friends computer claiming to have pictures of then-upcoming OS X Leopard. Once the message was opened and downloaded the Trojan worm infected any recently opened application with malicious code rendering them useless. [1]
In 2007 three Zlob Trojan viruses known as OSX/ DNSChanger, OSX/ RSPlug, and OSX/Jahlav crossed over from Windows to Mac OS. The Mac OS versions had the same objective as the original Windows worms which was to alter the users DNS and direct its traffic to malicious websites by posing as a needed video codec to access internet pornography. [2]
In 2008 F-Secure discovered Mac's first malicious cleaning tool called MacSweeper. It mimicked a then-legitimate cleaning tool name Mac Sweeper and claimed to find problems in the users system and then asked for payment to fix the problems. [3]
In 2009 a backdoor spyware named OSX/KROWI infected computers through pirated versions of iWork 2009 and Adobe Photoshop. Once on the users computer it connected to a remote network allowing others to enter the computer without authentication. [4]
In 2011 Intengo discovered a OSX/FLASHBACK, a malware that uses Java vulnerabilities to enter a user's computer and harvest user information. The most common package of FLASHBACK was in a malicious Adobe Flash installer but there are newer packages that are disguised as a software update. [5] Ptapp22 ( talk) 18:15, 23 April 2013 (UTC)
References
Why is this screenshot of snow leopard? That is old. Perhaps update it to this? It's a screenshot of mountain lion, pretty much a new install. Another option would be to update it to update it to File:Osx-mavericks-screenshot.jpg. -- Umadbrocuziamhere ( talk) 17:18, 14 August 2013 (UTC)
Early development history? Reading this Mac OS seems to appear by itself - no names. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.167.16.211 ( talk) 00:32, 10 December 2013 (UTC)
If nobody objects, I will begin restructuring this article to focus on System versions 1-9, removing information that pertains specifically to OS X. The infobox on this page, to start, duplicates heavily the page on OS X, even though the article lead refers specifically to the prior version of Mac OS, before version 10.
Furthermore, the OS X section should be removed/merged with the OS X article, or at least, in a way that refers to that as the primary article on the subject.
Lastly, the screenshot, which refers to a version of OS X, should be changed to something from the classic Mac OS era to comply with the new factual accuracy.
Again, anyone have objections? I plan to start this project soon. Lucas "nicatronTg" Nicodemus ( talk) 03:37, 25 February 2014 (UTC)
July 21 is more than 0 days ago. -- Jobu0101 ( talk) 20:11, 29 July 2014 (UTC)
Can anybody provide a citation of this? I'm as big a fan of Steve as the next guy, but as far as I know, he didn't make any contributions to the OS X codebase. And if he did, then surely that would just be listed as 'Apple', not 'Steve Jobs'? 118.209.10.175 ( talk) 16:14, 9 November 2014 (UTC)
One part of the article says that Mac OS was introduced in 1977, while another part says it was introduced in 1984. ZFT ( talk) 19:18, 22 January 2015 (UTC)
This page covers two different OSes:
So the OS X page probably needs, either now or when Apple's desktop/laptop/server UNIX's 13th release comes out, to be renamed "macOS", and updated to give the additional naming history.
But what about this page? It shouldn't be called "macOS" or "MacOS", as that should be the name for the page about Apple's desktop/laptop/server UNIX - no "classic" version of Apple's system software was ever called "MacOS" or "macOS". Should it just be turned into a page for the classic OS, with no page covering both OSes? Should it remain "Mac OS", with a hatnote pointing people to "macOS" for the current OS? Or should something else be done? Guy Harris ( talk) 17:52, 13 June 2016 (UTC)
Please move the actual OS X page to macOS. macOS is what it's called, it's confusing to people when an article about a cat says "cat used to be called dog. So this article is called dog even though this is a cat." Makes no sense. Jake Petroules ( talk) 06:09, 14 June 2016 (UTC)
The result of the move request was: No consensus. While the current situation is unsatisfactory, a mere move will not rectify it, and the proposed title seems misleading. Additional discussion is required to find the best solution. If there is one, that is. No such user ( talk) 14:01, 27 July 2016 (UTC)
Mac OS →
Macintosh operating systems – In order to distinguish this page from the soon-to-be
macOS (currently
OS X), this should be renamed to something more generic like Apple desktop operating systems, Macintosh operating systems, or the like. This also affords a clearer discussion of System 1 through System 7, and futureproofs it for possible future names. —
Supuhstar
* — 21:41, 7 July 2016 (UTC) --Relisting.
Eventhorizon51 (
talk) 14:07, 15 July 2016 (UTC)
We're already seeing people who think this page has the wrong name, because Apple's OS for Macs is called "macOS". We'll probably see even more when macOS Sierra comes out.
I think, and some other people thing too, as per the two previous discussions, that it might be a good idea to have a page for the classic (pre-Mac OS X) system software, covering only that OS and not Mac OS X/OS X/macOS, and not covering the other OSes from Apple, such as A/UX and mkLinux and Macintosh Application Environment, either.
I'm not sure what the right name for that page would be - should it be "Classic Mac OS", or "Mac OS (classic)"? I don't think it should be called just "Mac OS", as Apple's current UNIX was originally called "Mac OS X". If we don't call this "Mac OS", should there be a "Mac OS" disambiguation page, pointing both to the page for classic Mac OS and the page for Mac OS X^W^W^WOS X^W^WmacOS?
Template:Mac OS History and Template:Apple Inc. operating systems already contain lists of Apple OSes, in case somebody wants such a list, so I'm not sure we need a page "List of Apple operating systems" or "List of Macintosh operating systems", or something such as that.
I propose that we pull any non-classic Mac OS-related stuff out of this page and, if it's not already in the pages for the other OSes, move it there, and make this page be a page for classic Mac OS.
Any comments? Guy Harris ( talk) 02:53, 26 August 2016 (UTC)
UPDATE 1: In the interest of WP:BOLD, I have created a new page that combines Mac OS and History of Mac OS into one article, which will be named "Classic Mac OS". Please see the proposal at Talk:Mac OS/Classic Mac OS and let me know what you think.
The only information that did not make it into either article is here: Talk:Mac OS/Mac OS on non-Apple-labeled computers. Most of this information is already covered in the macOS article, albeit written a little differently.
Note: Guy Harris, I am particularly interested in your thoughts since you seem to be the de facto curator. — Samvscat ( talk) 07:51, 23 September 2016 (UTC)
UPDATE 2: This is a WP:BOLD action. Following a discussion (immediately above), this page's content was merged with effort and care into "History of Mac OS", which is now Classic Mac OS. The term "Mac OS" will now redirect to macOS.
I understand that the common response to bold actions is an undo/revert, but I encourage you to take a look at the discussion above and read the new Classic Mac OS article, which has been greatly improved from the old article on this page, which was a hodgepodge of items that were added over the years and was never truly organized from the top down. Now it has been thought out and considered as a coherent whole.
There is a hatnote at the top of both macOS and Classic Mac OS that will point readers to the other page, per Wikipedia guidelines on not creating a disambiguation page when there are only two major outcomes. I will continue looking for pages that link to Mac OS that should instead link to Classic Mac OS now, and I encourage you to do the same.
If you have any suggestions for improvement, please discuss here or just do it! Thank you. — Samvscat ( talk) 20:37, 23 September 2016 (UTC)
UPDATE 3: I see Mac OS is now a disambiguation page. In some ways, that makes sense: the previous version of this article did not know what it wanted to be. Was it the place for information about the current system, the old system, or all Mac-related OSes? The answer: all of the above. Incoming links to this page—many of them still out there—were targeting any one of those things. I still think a redirect and hatnote would be sufficient, but I think it's up for debate which destination is more relevant:
I don't know if there's a correct answer to that conundrum, but it's an interesting thought. The previous content of this article, and the intent of the incoming links to it, were all over the place. In many respects, this has been a problem all along. It was only exacerbated by Apple's rebranding of "OS X" to "macOS": with Apple making the name of its new system the same as its old system, now we are forced to do something about it. — Samvscat ( talk) 17:17, 28 September 2016 (UTC)
The result of the move request was: Move. We have clear consensus that the proposed descriptive title is superior to the current one. As noted below, a number of incoming links will still have to be sorted to the more specific articles; hopefully editors knowledgeable about the subject can take the lead on that. Cúchullain t/ c 15:25, 11 October 2016 (UTC)
Mac OS →
Macintosh operating systems – It came to my attention that a great number of pages were linking to
Mac OS, some in a way that suggests "Macintosh operating systems" in general, encompassing the
classic Mac OS, the current
macOS, and Apple's related Macintosh OS projects. So, I rewrote this article as a broad and concise/brief overview of Apple's Macintosh operating systems, very closely following the
template of the same name. By giving this article a clear focus and renaming it as such, we will eliminate the naming confusion that currently exists between
Mac OS and
macOS. This will follow the naming convention of other current articles such as
Macintosh,
Macintosh hardware, and
List of Macintosh software.
Samvscat (
talk) 14:05, 1 October 2016 (UTC)
As I've said elsewhere, there isn't a thing that is "Mac OS". There are two things, the classic Mac OS and macOS, and their pages have infoboxes describing them; an infobox trying to describe both of them would either have to give, for many of its parameters, a string giving two items, one for the classic Mac OS and one for macOS, or omit those parameters as you can't, for example, say what platforms "MacOS" supported/supports (classic Mac OS never supported x86 except in the unreleased Star Trek; macOS never supported 68k).
Furthermore, the intent is that this page describe OSes from Apple for Mac other than those that had the string "Mac OS" in their names at some point in their history, which makes it even harder to describe the topics of this page in a single {{Infobox OS}} template invocation. Guy Harris ( talk) 07:22, 2 October 2016 (UTC)
the related systems section was last updated in 2015. some research should be done, maybe add AudioOS or whatever — Preceding unsigned comment added by Chriscush765 ( talk • contribs) 18:49, 11 February 2019 (UTC)
It occured to me that there are other various OSes out there that run on Macintosh hardware that weren't developed by Apple. The example that immediately comes to mind is Be OS by Be Inc., but I'm sure there were others as well. This would be a very small section towards the end of the article. Would this make sense to add to this article? - Paul T +/ C 16:41, 1 May 2019 (UTC)
This is the
talk page for discussing improvements to the
Mac operating systems article. This is not a forum for general discussion of the article's subject. |
Article policies
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Find sources: Google ( books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL |
Archives: 1 |
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level-4 vital article is rated C-class on Wikipedia's
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|
The infobox for the Mac OS lists kernel as "Monolithic, later nanokernel". Just out of curiosity, when exactly did the Mac OS use a nanokernel? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Mipadi ( talk • contribs) 21:43, 1 January 2006 (UTC)
How is the original Mac OS kernel a monolithic kernel? If you look at the definition of a monolithic kernel there are significant omissions in the Mac OS kernel - and the existence of extensions calls this into even more doubt. Can someone corroborate this definition? Djm63y2k ( talk) 19:47, 26 October 2013 (UTC)
We really should have an article devoted to Classic Mac OS, even though the term is not used in the official Apple documentation, which prefers the cumbersome locution “versions of Mac OS prior to OS X”. Everybody knows what Classic Mac OS means, and it is universally used in the non-Apple technical literature, for example the recent book by Hillegass and Dalrymple on OS X programming. Also, from an operating systems viewpoint, Classic Mac OS and Mac OS X are completely different, though of course there is continuity if one views them as desktop environments.
We should also have a Classic Mac OS category, where we can put things like ResEdit, MacsBug, System Folder, and Mac OS memory management (the last article should be renamed).
The question is, do we move this article, or create a new one? Moving this article would make sense, as the infobox is clearly devoted to Classic Mac OS, stating as it does that 9.2.2 is the last stable version. On the other hand, it would require a rewrite, specifically removing the OS X section. Thoughts? Brian Tvedt 10:54, 18 April 2006 (UTC)
The article incorrectly states that PowerPC-based Macs ship with OS 9.2 which is wrong as only PowerPC up to the G4 can run OS 9, the G5 cannot.
I notice that there is a disambiguation page for 'Applesoft' that links both to Applesoft BASIC (what I think of as 'Applesoft') and to this page ... yet there is absolutely no mention of the word 'Applesoft' on this page. If indeed the Mac OS division was referred to as 'Applesoft', this is the first I've heard of it, which doesn't necessarily mean I'm wrong, but if it was, then it should be mentioned on this page, and if it isn't then there shouldn't be a disambiguation for it, which just results in mystification. I don't know what the policy is, but there shouldn't be any information disseminated on a disambiguation page ALONE by my way of thinking, especially by way of associating a term obliquely with something that most people familiar with the word would never think of it as referring to. If there is a reference to Applesoft vis-a-vis the Mac OS, then it should be cited here. If not, then the term should be undisambiguated, IMHO.-- 206.248.134.152 05:00, 2 September 2006 (UTC)
Hm. Are there any experts around who can explain what that thing is that you get with the key combo cmd + power (and occasionally with program crashes)? It definitely looks like a command line of some sort, altho I've never been able to figure out if actually does anything. ("G" will exit, tho.) So is this a "secret command line" or something yet more arcane? -- Tropylium 19:49, 17 June 2007 (UTC)
Someone can tell me, please, if i have an APPLE Notebook with Mac operating system installed, can i delete it and install windows xp? Teo
Image:MacOS 152mm 4c.png is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.
Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Wikipedia:Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.
If there is other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images uploaded after 4 May, 2006, and lacking such an explanation will be deleted one week after they have been uploaded, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.
BetacommandBot 04:57, 16 September 2007 (UTC)
"The original form of what Apple would later name the "Mac OS" was the integral and unnamed system software first introduced in 1984 and later in 1997 with the original Macintosh."
In what way was the original system software reintroduced in 1997? This nonsensical assertion needs to be either clarified or removed.
—
überRegenbogen (
talk) 21:53, 17 August 2008 (UTC)
7.6 was not the first use of the name "Mac OS". The first was Mac OS 7.5.1 (although 7.6 was the first /boxed/ version to display the new moniker on its packaging. Upon booting 7.5.1, the screen will say "Welcome to Mac OS". The name did not surprise many Mac aficionados, as "MacOS" (no space) was already in use colloquially. Walter Ian Kaye 04:05, 9 September 2009 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Boodlums ( talk • contribs)
The previous 'discussion' under this title was about numbers of users still using Mac OS. While I have no numbers, the anecdotal evidence provided is almost meaningless. There are hold-out, but they have been vastly outnumbered for years.
Not my main point, though.
The article claims that some users held out because OS X ran more slowly on their hardware. This simply is not true. Users held out because of familiarity with Mac OS, because their hardware was not compatible, or because there wasn't equivalent OS X native software that replaced what they needed. In no case did any mac hardware run more slowly running OS X than running Mac OS. That includes hardware that apple would not officially support for upgrading, but could still be upgraded. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Soch ( talk • contribs) 16:46, 4 December 2009 (UTC)
Possible vandalism? claims apple claim that the mac OSX(10) does not crash, this is true can be a fib at times —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.60.210.32 ( talk) 19:24, 6 December 2010 (UTC)
Why is the main screenshot of the Mac OS article of a version that Apple hasn't even finished yet? When people say "Mac OS" they most often think Mac OS Classic. Shouldn't the main screenshot be of an older version of Mac OS? Or at very least, Snow Leopard, which is the current version. Althepal ( talk) 22:51, 25 January 2011 (UTC)
A common misconception among Mac users is that Mac OS is immune to viruses. Unfortunately viruses do exist for Mac OS though they are few in number. Below is a list of some of the most commonly found Mac Viruses over the past several years.
In 2006 there was a Trojan worm discovered known as OSX/LEAP that used iChat as its method of transfer. If an infected computer would iChat a friend a message would show up on the friends computer claiming to have pictures of then-upcoming OS X Leopard. Once the message was opened and downloaded the Trojan worm infected any recently opened application with malicious code rendering them useless. [1]
In 2007 three Zlob Trojan viruses known as OSX/ DNSChanger, OSX/ RSPlug, and OSX/Jahlav crossed over from Windows to Mac OS. The Mac OS versions had the same objective as the original Windows worms which was to alter the users DNS and direct its traffic to malicious websites by posing as a needed video codec to access internet pornography. [2]
In 2008 F-Secure discovered Mac's first malicious cleaning tool called MacSweeper. It mimicked a then-legitimate cleaning tool name Mac Sweeper and claimed to find problems in the users system and then asked for payment to fix the problems. [3]
In 2009 a backdoor spyware named OSX/KROWI infected computers through pirated versions of iWork 2009 and Adobe Photoshop. Once on the users computer it connected to a remote network allowing others to enter the computer without authentication. [4]
In 2011 Intengo discovered a OSX/FLASHBACK, a malware that uses Java vulnerabilities to enter a user's computer and harvest user information. The most common package of FLASHBACK was in a malicious Adobe Flash installer but there are newer packages that are disguised as a software update. [5] Ptapp22 ( talk) 18:15, 23 April 2013 (UTC)
References
Why is this screenshot of snow leopard? That is old. Perhaps update it to this? It's a screenshot of mountain lion, pretty much a new install. Another option would be to update it to update it to File:Osx-mavericks-screenshot.jpg. -- Umadbrocuziamhere ( talk) 17:18, 14 August 2013 (UTC)
Early development history? Reading this Mac OS seems to appear by itself - no names. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.167.16.211 ( talk) 00:32, 10 December 2013 (UTC)
If nobody objects, I will begin restructuring this article to focus on System versions 1-9, removing information that pertains specifically to OS X. The infobox on this page, to start, duplicates heavily the page on OS X, even though the article lead refers specifically to the prior version of Mac OS, before version 10.
Furthermore, the OS X section should be removed/merged with the OS X article, or at least, in a way that refers to that as the primary article on the subject.
Lastly, the screenshot, which refers to a version of OS X, should be changed to something from the classic Mac OS era to comply with the new factual accuracy.
Again, anyone have objections? I plan to start this project soon. Lucas "nicatronTg" Nicodemus ( talk) 03:37, 25 February 2014 (UTC)
July 21 is more than 0 days ago. -- Jobu0101 ( talk) 20:11, 29 July 2014 (UTC)
Can anybody provide a citation of this? I'm as big a fan of Steve as the next guy, but as far as I know, he didn't make any contributions to the OS X codebase. And if he did, then surely that would just be listed as 'Apple', not 'Steve Jobs'? 118.209.10.175 ( talk) 16:14, 9 November 2014 (UTC)
One part of the article says that Mac OS was introduced in 1977, while another part says it was introduced in 1984. ZFT ( talk) 19:18, 22 January 2015 (UTC)
This page covers two different OSes:
So the OS X page probably needs, either now or when Apple's desktop/laptop/server UNIX's 13th release comes out, to be renamed "macOS", and updated to give the additional naming history.
But what about this page? It shouldn't be called "macOS" or "MacOS", as that should be the name for the page about Apple's desktop/laptop/server UNIX - no "classic" version of Apple's system software was ever called "MacOS" or "macOS". Should it just be turned into a page for the classic OS, with no page covering both OSes? Should it remain "Mac OS", with a hatnote pointing people to "macOS" for the current OS? Or should something else be done? Guy Harris ( talk) 17:52, 13 June 2016 (UTC)
Please move the actual OS X page to macOS. macOS is what it's called, it's confusing to people when an article about a cat says "cat used to be called dog. So this article is called dog even though this is a cat." Makes no sense. Jake Petroules ( talk) 06:09, 14 June 2016 (UTC)
The result of the move request was: No consensus. While the current situation is unsatisfactory, a mere move will not rectify it, and the proposed title seems misleading. Additional discussion is required to find the best solution. If there is one, that is. No such user ( talk) 14:01, 27 July 2016 (UTC)
Mac OS →
Macintosh operating systems – In order to distinguish this page from the soon-to-be
macOS (currently
OS X), this should be renamed to something more generic like Apple desktop operating systems, Macintosh operating systems, or the like. This also affords a clearer discussion of System 1 through System 7, and futureproofs it for possible future names. —
Supuhstar
* — 21:41, 7 July 2016 (UTC) --Relisting.
Eventhorizon51 (
talk) 14:07, 15 July 2016 (UTC)
We're already seeing people who think this page has the wrong name, because Apple's OS for Macs is called "macOS". We'll probably see even more when macOS Sierra comes out.
I think, and some other people thing too, as per the two previous discussions, that it might be a good idea to have a page for the classic (pre-Mac OS X) system software, covering only that OS and not Mac OS X/OS X/macOS, and not covering the other OSes from Apple, such as A/UX and mkLinux and Macintosh Application Environment, either.
I'm not sure what the right name for that page would be - should it be "Classic Mac OS", or "Mac OS (classic)"? I don't think it should be called just "Mac OS", as Apple's current UNIX was originally called "Mac OS X". If we don't call this "Mac OS", should there be a "Mac OS" disambiguation page, pointing both to the page for classic Mac OS and the page for Mac OS X^W^W^WOS X^W^WmacOS?
Template:Mac OS History and Template:Apple Inc. operating systems already contain lists of Apple OSes, in case somebody wants such a list, so I'm not sure we need a page "List of Apple operating systems" or "List of Macintosh operating systems", or something such as that.
I propose that we pull any non-classic Mac OS-related stuff out of this page and, if it's not already in the pages for the other OSes, move it there, and make this page be a page for classic Mac OS.
Any comments? Guy Harris ( talk) 02:53, 26 August 2016 (UTC)
UPDATE 1: In the interest of WP:BOLD, I have created a new page that combines Mac OS and History of Mac OS into one article, which will be named "Classic Mac OS". Please see the proposal at Talk:Mac OS/Classic Mac OS and let me know what you think.
The only information that did not make it into either article is here: Talk:Mac OS/Mac OS on non-Apple-labeled computers. Most of this information is already covered in the macOS article, albeit written a little differently.
Note: Guy Harris, I am particularly interested in your thoughts since you seem to be the de facto curator. — Samvscat ( talk) 07:51, 23 September 2016 (UTC)
UPDATE 2: This is a WP:BOLD action. Following a discussion (immediately above), this page's content was merged with effort and care into "History of Mac OS", which is now Classic Mac OS. The term "Mac OS" will now redirect to macOS.
I understand that the common response to bold actions is an undo/revert, but I encourage you to take a look at the discussion above and read the new Classic Mac OS article, which has been greatly improved from the old article on this page, which was a hodgepodge of items that were added over the years and was never truly organized from the top down. Now it has been thought out and considered as a coherent whole.
There is a hatnote at the top of both macOS and Classic Mac OS that will point readers to the other page, per Wikipedia guidelines on not creating a disambiguation page when there are only two major outcomes. I will continue looking for pages that link to Mac OS that should instead link to Classic Mac OS now, and I encourage you to do the same.
If you have any suggestions for improvement, please discuss here or just do it! Thank you. — Samvscat ( talk) 20:37, 23 September 2016 (UTC)
UPDATE 3: I see Mac OS is now a disambiguation page. In some ways, that makes sense: the previous version of this article did not know what it wanted to be. Was it the place for information about the current system, the old system, or all Mac-related OSes? The answer: all of the above. Incoming links to this page—many of them still out there—were targeting any one of those things. I still think a redirect and hatnote would be sufficient, but I think it's up for debate which destination is more relevant:
I don't know if there's a correct answer to that conundrum, but it's an interesting thought. The previous content of this article, and the intent of the incoming links to it, were all over the place. In many respects, this has been a problem all along. It was only exacerbated by Apple's rebranding of "OS X" to "macOS": with Apple making the name of its new system the same as its old system, now we are forced to do something about it. — Samvscat ( talk) 17:17, 28 September 2016 (UTC)
The result of the move request was: Move. We have clear consensus that the proposed descriptive title is superior to the current one. As noted below, a number of incoming links will still have to be sorted to the more specific articles; hopefully editors knowledgeable about the subject can take the lead on that. Cúchullain t/ c 15:25, 11 October 2016 (UTC)
Mac OS →
Macintosh operating systems – It came to my attention that a great number of pages were linking to
Mac OS, some in a way that suggests "Macintosh operating systems" in general, encompassing the
classic Mac OS, the current
macOS, and Apple's related Macintosh OS projects. So, I rewrote this article as a broad and concise/brief overview of Apple's Macintosh operating systems, very closely following the
template of the same name. By giving this article a clear focus and renaming it as such, we will eliminate the naming confusion that currently exists between
Mac OS and
macOS. This will follow the naming convention of other current articles such as
Macintosh,
Macintosh hardware, and
List of Macintosh software.
Samvscat (
talk) 14:05, 1 October 2016 (UTC)
As I've said elsewhere, there isn't a thing that is "Mac OS". There are two things, the classic Mac OS and macOS, and their pages have infoboxes describing them; an infobox trying to describe both of them would either have to give, for many of its parameters, a string giving two items, one for the classic Mac OS and one for macOS, or omit those parameters as you can't, for example, say what platforms "MacOS" supported/supports (classic Mac OS never supported x86 except in the unreleased Star Trek; macOS never supported 68k).
Furthermore, the intent is that this page describe OSes from Apple for Mac other than those that had the string "Mac OS" in their names at some point in their history, which makes it even harder to describe the topics of this page in a single {{Infobox OS}} template invocation. Guy Harris ( talk) 07:22, 2 October 2016 (UTC)
the related systems section was last updated in 2015. some research should be done, maybe add AudioOS or whatever — Preceding unsigned comment added by Chriscush765 ( talk • contribs) 18:49, 11 February 2019 (UTC)
It occured to me that there are other various OSes out there that run on Macintosh hardware that weren't developed by Apple. The example that immediately comes to mind is Be OS by Be Inc., but I'm sure there were others as well. This would be a very small section towards the end of the article. Would this make sense to add to this article? - Paul T +/ C 16:41, 1 May 2019 (UTC)