<operating system> (Mac OS) Apple Computer, Inc.'s
proprietary operating system for their Macintosh family of
personal computers.
The part of the operating system that simulates the desktop is
called "Finder." The multitasking version of Finder was
called "MultiFinder" until multitasking was integrated
into the core of the OS with the introduction of System 7.0 in
1990.
The Macintosh series provides a built-in graphics language,
called "QuickDraw", which provides a standard for software
developers.
Mac OS 8, scheduled for delivery in July 1997, contains a
number of significant improvements, including new
human-interface features, increased system stability and
performance, a PowerPC processor-native Finder, tighter
integration of Internet access through panel-based
"assistants," Personal Web Sharing, and the ability to run
Java applets and programs through Mac OS Run Time for Java.
Mac OS X ("X" for 10) is based on FreeBSD. Apple released
the kernel of Mac OS X Server as "darwin", under an open
source license.
See also Macintosh file system, Macintosh user interface.
(2002-06-29)
Nearby terms:
Macintosh file system « Macintosh II « Macintosh IIcx « Macintosh Operating System » Macintosh user interface » Macintoy » Macintrash
