OS X

OS X (pronounced /oʊˌɛsˈtɛn/, oh-ess-TEN; originally Mac OS X) is a series of Unix-based graphical interface operating systems (OS) developed and marketed by Apple Inc. It is designed to run on Macintosh computers, having been pre-installed on all Macs since 2002. OS X is the fourth most popular general purpose OS; within the market of desktop, laptop and home computers, and by web usage, OS X is the second most widely used desktop OS after Windows.

OS X was the successor to Mac OS 9, released in 1999, the final release of the "classic" Mac OS, which had been Apple's primary operating system since 1984. The first version released was Mac OS X Server 1.0 in 1999; a desktop version, Mac OS X v10.0 "Cheetah" followed on March 24, 2001. All consumer releases of OS X up to 2013 were named after big cats; for example, OS X v10.8 was referred to as "Mountain Lion". However, with the announcement of OS X Mavericks in June 2013, this was dropped in favor of Californian landmarks.

OS X, whose X is the Roman numeral for 10 and is a prominent part of its brand identity, is built on technologies developed at NeXT between the second half of the 1980s and Apple's purchase of the company in late 1996. The 'X' is also used to emphasize the relatedness between OS X and UNIX. UNIX 03 certification has been achieved for versions 10.5 for Intel CPUs, and versions 10.6 through 10.11.iOS, the mobile OS for the iPhone, iPod Touch,iPad, and the 2nd and 3rd generation Apple TV, shares the Unix-based core and many frameworks with OS X. An unnamed variant of v10.4 powers the first generation Apple TV. Apple also formerly issued a separate line of editions for server use.

Mac OS X 10.1

Mac OS X version 10.1, code named Puma, is the second major release of Mac OS X, Apple's desktop and server operating system. It superseded Mac OS X 10.0 and preceded Mac OS X 10.2. Version 10.1 was released on September 25, 2001 as a free update for Mac OS X 10.0 users. The operating system was handed out for no charge by Apple employees after Steve Jobs' keynote speech at the Seybold publishing conference in San Francisco. It was subsequently distributed to Mac users on October 25, 2001 at Apple Stores and other retail stores that carried Apple products. The operating system was better received than Mac OS X 10.0, although critics claimed that the operating system was still lacking some features and was plagued with bugs.

System requirements

Supported computers:

RAM:

Hard Drive Space:

Features

Apple introduced many features that were missing from the previous version, as well as improving overall system performance.

OSx86

OSx86 (from the names OS X and x86) is a collaborative hacking project to run the OS X operating system on non-Apple personal computers with x86 architecture on x86-64 processors. The effort started soon after the June 2005 Worldwide Developers Conference announcement that Apple would be moving its personal computers from PowerPC to Intel microprocessors.

A computer built to run this type of OS X is also known as a Hackintosh, from the word "hack" and the name of Apple's main model of computers, Macintosh. Hackintoshed notebook computers are also called "Hackbooks".

The Apple software license does not allow OS X to be used on a computer that is not "Apple-branded". The legality of this form of tying is disputed by companies such as Psystar, Bizon computer, PearC and MacPC who have attempted to release products using Mac OS on non-Apple machines. However, while the methods Apple uses to prevent OS X from being installed on non-Apple hardware are protected from commercial circumvention in the United States by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), specific changes to the law regarding the concept of jailbreaking has thrown such and similar circumvention methods into a grey area when carried out by end-users for personal use.

Mac OS X 10.2

Mac OS X Jaguar, version 10.2, is the third major release of Mac OS X, Apple's desktop and server operating system. It superseded Mac OS X 10.1 and preceded Mac OS X Panther. The operating system was released on August 23, 2002 either for single-computer installations, and in a “family pack,” which allowed five installations on separate computers in one household. The operating system was generally well received by most Mac users as a large step forward in the areas of stability, general speed enhancements, compatibility with other flavors of Unix and the lineup of both graphical and terminal applications available; however, many critics, such as Amazon.com users, still claimed that significant user interface speed issues existed and that the operating system was still a big step down from Mac OS 9.

Jaguar was the first Mac OS X release to publicly use its code name in marketing and advertisements, a practice that has continued in subsequent releases of the operating system.