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Architosh has a full compliment of material on
Mac OS X and adds additional material not found in our older Mac
OS X page. Below you will find technical resources, articles and
sites devoted to all things Mac OS X.
- Mac OS X is Apple's
new, next-generation Mac operating system for Apple PowerPC computers.
Mac OS X is expected to be completed Feb. 24th, 2001, and has
been under development since Apple acquired NeXT in 1997 from
Steve Jobs.
Mac OS X is the most modern operating system in the world. Based
on a combination of NeXT's
OPENSTEP (UNIX) operating system, classic Mac OS X APIs and
FreeBSD UNIX, Mac OS X exceeds all other operating systems in existence
in combination of legendary Mac "ease-of-use" and industrial
UNIX power and stability.
- What makes Mac OS X Modern?
- In general the use of the word "modern" in OS's is
reserved for those OS's which have all of the following UNIX attributes:
1 - a microkernel, 2 - full, protective memory, 3 - multiprocessing
ability, 4 - preemptive multitasking, and 5 - multithreading.
The current version of Mac OS has only some of these, which is
why the Mac has never been a modern OS.
Mac OS X is Apple's first complete leap over Microsoft in many
years, providing a truly modern OS to the consumer masses before
Microsoft is able to complete that difficult objective. Furthermore,
Mac OS X offers some truly revolutionary features that rivals like
Microsoft will not emulate for many years to come. In particular
are its PostScript/PDF-based imaging engine called Quartz.
Mac OS X, a 64-bit OS, will have the unique ability to run Classic
32-bit Mac OS applications at native speeds—all transparently!
Mac OS X will also offer the most advanced Java 2 support.
For more up-to-date Mac OS X information visit the Mac
OS X page at Apple and the resources below.
For general information on computer operating systems go to the
Web site OS Data.com
- Mac OS X Ready Applications List
- The following list of applications are already in some stage
of Mac OS X development. (X = Ready Now,
B = In Beta, D = Under development): Updated
List!
| Status: |
Application: |
| X |
ArchiCAD |
| D |
BOA 3.0 |
| X |
BodyPaint 3D |
| X |
Bryce |
| X |
CADintosh |
| X |
Cinema4D |
| D |
FormZ
|
| X |
GraphicsConverter 4.1 |
| X |
LightWave 3D |
| X |
Lightworks Classic |
| X |
Lightworks Lite |
| X |
Lightworks Pro |
| B |
MacDraft 5 |
| X |
Maya for Mac OS X |
| X |
Meshworks |
| X |
Nonio C |
| X |
POV-Ray for Mac OS |
| D |
solidThinking |
| B |
VectorWorks |
| B |
VectorWorks ARCHITECT |
| B |
VectorWorks LANDMARK |
| B |
VectorWorks SPOTLIGHT |
- Mac OS X Future / Wish List
- The following list of applications are currently Classic Mac
OS applications that are available now. We wish to see all of
them on the Mac OS X Ready List soon. Here is the development
status. (U = undetermined/under consideration,
H9 = Heritage Mac OS 9, continued development, HF = Heritage Mac
OS 9, development on hold or terminated, H7-8 = Heritage Mac OS,
development limited to system 7-8.) Ongoing
List!
| Status: |
Application: |
| U |
3D World |
| U |
Artlantis |
| U |
cumTerra |
| U |
DomusTerra |
| U |
MCnurbs Creator |
| U |
Microspot Interiors |
| U |
Neoform |
| U |
Pixels3D |
| U |
ZOOM |
The following listing of websites are devoted to Mac OS X, including
some key Apple resources.
- • Apple - Mac OS
X
- • Apple -
Mac OS X Developer Resources
- • Apple - Mac OS X Products Guide
- • Apple - Mac Classic Compatible Products Guide
- • Apple - Mac
OS X Public Beta
- • MacNN - OS X
- • ArsTechnica
- • Stepwise
- • Apple - Official
Darwin Site
- • Darwin OS.org
- • MacCentral
- Mac OS X
- • MacPowerUser
|
|
|
| Feature/Benefit |
Mac OS X |
Windows 2000/NT |
Linux |
# |
| UI (GUI): aesthetics |
Aqua |
No Aqua abilities |
No Aqua abilities |
|
| Graphics - native PDF |
Yes
- In Quartz |
No - extra software |
No - extra software |
2
|
| Hardware-software integration |
Better |
Good |
Worse |
|
| Ease-of-Use |
Legendary |
Good |
Worse |
|
| Built-in scripting |
Yes
- AppleScript |
No |
No |
|
| Number
of Bits |
64-bit |
32-bit (partial 64) |
32 or 64-bit |
6
|
| Max.
Processors-workstation |
2-4 |
2 |
4 |
7
|
| Max.
Processors-server |
2-4 |
8 |
4 |
7
|
| Full Kernel |
Yes-Mach |
Yes-Proprietary |
Yes-Linux |
|
| Full protected memory |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| Multiprocessing |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| Preemptive multitasking |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| Multithreading |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| POSIX compliance |
Yes |
No - partial |
Yes |
|
| Java 2 Support |
Yes |
? |
? |
|
| Enterprise Servers |
Good |
Good |
Better |
|
| Web Application Development |
Good |
Better |
Good |
|
| Publishing - Print |
Better |
Good |
Worse |
|
| Publishing - Web |
Better |
Good |
Worse |
|
| High-End Workstation |
Better |
Better |
Better |
|
| Web Server |
Better |
Good |
Better |
8
|
| Software - Overall |
Good |
Better |
Good |
|
| Software - Creative |
Better |
Good |
Worse |
|
| Software - Business |
Good |
Better |
Good |
|
| Software - Games |
Good |
Better |
Good |
|
| Software - CAD |
Good |
Better |
Good |
|
| Software - 3D/Animation |
Better |
Better |
Good |
|
As you can see from the above chart Mac OS X is every bit as powerful
as Linux or Windows 2000 with some key advantages, both at the "usability
level" and the "industrial strength level".
|
Usability
|
Industrial Strength |
|
Mac OS X exceeds Windows and Linux on usability on
the basis of its advanced Mac graphical user interface,
complete hardware to software integration and built-in
scripting language, AppleScript.
In the publishing and creative industries leading products
are often Mac-centric, only Mac or Mac first, providing
the richest set of top-tier solutions. Examples include
Final Cut Pro and the Altivec enhanced Adobe Photoshop.
|
|
|
Mac OS X exceeds Windows and Linux on industrial strength
potential and on current offerings, considering its
pre-version 1.0 status.
Mac OS X is fully 64-bit ready, supports more processors
in workstations (up to 4) and takes advantage of them
with vector processing via AltiVec processing units.
Mac OS X has a fully advanced, customized Apache Web
server solution built-in to the OS and includes full
support for all Apache modules - something Windows 2000
doesn't have. Furthermore, OS X includes a POSIX compatibility
(UNIX standard API set) that Windows only partially
has.
Mac OS X offers full Java 2 support.
|
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For a very technical but enjoyable introduction to all operating
systems available with a remarkable level of resources go on over
to the OperatingSystems.net
website.
Technical Notes from Chart Above.
Click on a note number in the chart or see below for explanation.
Coming!
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