[psmith2.0]

I was clicking through some links at the apple.com/pr press release archive and was reminded that OS X was unveiled at MWSF in January 2000 (I was there, my one and only Macworld Expo).

So here we are, approaching the fifth year anniversary of X's existence. That kinda blew my mind because in some ways it just doesn't seem like five years since that (I still remember the show, the posters and banners with the big blue gel "X", the overall feeling of "what in the hell is THIS?!?" when seeing the demo, etc.). But in other ways - comparing present-day Panther to that first public beta, for instance - it seems like decades!



Anyway, maybe this thread can be a one-stop repository for OS X recollections, thoughts, ramblings, stories, insights, tributes, roasting, etc. as we approach its fifth birthday.

Certainly has come a long way. I've been using it full-time at home since March 2002 (when I bought my iMac G4 SuperDrive). That was still 10.1, but I stuck with it and forced myself to starting "thinking in X" since I knew it was the future and there was no sense clinging forever to 9...in fact, I banished OS 9 from my iMac entirely, just to "help along" that process (you can't boot into 9 or launch Classic if it ain't there ).

Jaguar, that autumn, certainly was a step up in X's performance and capabilities. Then Panther, fall of 2003, was an even greater leap and I got my free copy of it on October 24 (Night of the Panther), which is the same night I bought my PowerBook, after standing in a HUGE line at the Lenox mall in Atlanta. I drove home later that evening, dually torqued in anticipation of my first ever laptop AND this spiffy new version of OS X that I had all weekend to play with. I installed Panther (leaving OS 9 off) and have been happy as a clam with both the PowerBook and Panther.

I can't wait for Tiger, if only for the new iChat (it'll make me want to buy an iSight, I'm sure) and Dashboard. Here's hoping for an "earlier rather than later" Tiger release (NOT June 29, 2005), with more goodies yet to be announced.

I just can't believe it's almost been five years!

[709]

Holy Crap. It doesn't seem that long ago to me.

I remember nearly pissing myself with excitement by the installer 'Welcome' screen.

I remember staring at the 128x icons for hours, amazed by how beautiful they were.

I remember setting the dock animation to BIGGEST and running my mouse over it like a kid with a new toy.

I remember being thoroughly confused and excited at the same time in 10.0....which gave way to utter frustration after a few days.

I remember walking in the rain to pick up my free copy of 10.1, and literally running back to my office with glee. OSX was finally 'usable'.

I remember being scared shitless by the Terminal.

I remember installing my first OSX 'native' program (Macromedia Freehand) and how wonderful it was.

I remember installing 10.2....and with a big breath decided against installing OS9.

[Messiahtosh]

It does seem pretty crazy. But, if you want to relive your OS 9 days, go to iconfactory.com and get some old-looking desktop icons.

[Brad]

Ah, yes. MacWorld San Francisco 2000. That was an absolutely breathtaking keynote. I was there was watching online and I, like so many other users, was in utter shock and amazement.

Apple managed to successfully keep Aqua a complete secret and Steve was having a grand old time showing off all of the intricacies. The throbbing buttons, the rippling scroll bars, the live resizing, the big beautiful icons, the early Dock with the big chunky icons... the flood of new information was quite overwhelming.

Of course, it should be noted that this wasn't the final version. This was what some people dubbed "DP 2.1" as it was an internal version between the DP2 (using old Platinum) and DP3 (using new Aqua) developer preview releases. The Public Beta wasn't released until later that fall and then the final version on the fateful day of March 24th, 2001.

I still have my Public Beta CD and have occasionally given thought to installing it on one of my drives for a trip down nostalgia lane. Granted, I'll have to turn back the clock since it's an expiring release, but that would be no trouble.

As soon as I got the Public Beta, I may dying to get it installed on my dual 500 MHz G4 tower. The stories of a proper implementation of multithreading absolutely made me giddy, knowing that this hardware suddenly became a lot more valuable. Truth be told, I still look at that tower as the best computer hardware investment I've ever made. With each release of Mac OS X, it's gotten faster and for most intents and purposes it has been just as fast and responsive as a brand new tower up until very recently with the G5.

I struggled with the awkward growing pains of the Public Beta. Unlike many old time Mac users, though, I saw the potential Mac OS X and I embraced the changes full-on. I didn't resist by trying to change everything, scrambling to find replacements for the Dock and Apple menu. What's this new Terminal? Bring in on! I took Mac OS X for what it was because I knew that it would mostly remain the same from then until release.

Does anyone have a copy of the MWSF00 keynote? I remember that applenut had several keynotes saved a while back. Does anyone else have them available where an old timer might get to download it?

[Moogs]

Nice thread topic, Paul.

It is pretty unbelieveable that five years has past us by already (almost).We certainly have come a long way in many respects, not as far along as I'd like (personally) in others. Some key recollections:

1. Ordering up a copy of the Public Beta and getting all hyped up when I opened the shipping box and saw that big blue X on the folder. And then installing and submitting a bunch of reports over the next four or five hours. I don't think I got up once during that time; I was so anxious to submit my comments to make it as good as possible at release.

2. Learning that I had missed the FedEx lady and driving directly to the FedEx shipping center (maybe 20 minutes away) that same day to pick up 10.0, instead of waiting another day. I remember the little green oval logo on the box but I can't remember what it said... but still, I basked in the glory of that little green logo all the way home.

3. Remembering the excitement of getting some of those first big-name OS X apps (Painter was one of the first I think), and the ensuing realization that yes they alleviated the need to even think about using Classic... but they were also pretty sluggish / buggy in spots.

4. I remember checking out the picture of the Jaguar at the Apple store that someone had posted in the other forum, the night of its release.

5. I remember NOT buying Panther because I was about to embark on my karmic purchase of the long-awaited G5 dual, and not even caring because I was way more pumped that Apple had released the G5 -- and that it was everything the spec whores didn't think it would be.


About Tiger: hoping that it is as much system-wide "polish", as anything. Also hoping those new features we see on the preview are not the only ones, but not holding my breath because that's what we all hoped the last two times and it wasn't to be.

[ast3r3x]

It came out when I was on a StartMax 4000/200 (200Mhz 604e) which couldn't run OS X. I of course watched all the videos and was so impressed with how wonderful it looked. Of course looking back it looks so unpolished and those pin stripes, oh how I do not miss those pinstripes at all.

[curiousuburb]

I remember 10.0.x running strangely on the iBook500 I had at the time (as one of the few staff with 'nix experience, acting as the semi-official guinea pig at the bleeding edge on behalf of a school full of reluctant OS 9 users waiting to hear if X was safe)
Being the clever Mac expert I was, I went hunting for files I thought I could kill to improve performance.

Buh bye bizarre looking .DS_Store files "I didn't buy anything!". Here starteth the lesson.

Reformat. Reinstall. Respect files you don't know...

Been relatively pain free since then, though chunks of 10.1.x were annoying to try and get a happy network with (labs full of OS 9 iMacs and RIP servers hated 10.1.3-7).

And four plus years without a virus has been nice.

[murbot]

Originally Posted by curiousuburb And four plus years without a virus has been nice.

This reminds me of a comment I made to a friend the other day, discussing the merits of marriage.

[LoCash]

It probably doesn't seem like that long ago because most of us didn't start using OS X until two or three years. I remember being at the keynote that introduced OS X and it was pretty.... surreal.

[psmith2.0]

Yeah, but knowing you, you were probably on a bunch of stuff too, so I don't think it was all Aqua, the Dock, big icons and Steve's mighty RDF.

[Kickaha]

Heh... I remember waiting for it start and thinking "Oh, these guys are going to have a fit when they see this..."

I'd been running internal Apple builds as a tester since late '98.

[psmith2.0]

Even with the Aqua look?

Is there a site I can go to that has the history of OS X laid out, complete with screenshots (particularly of pre-MWSF 2000 versions, as well as that MWSF and 10.0 versions?).

I've almost forgotten what they look like.

[Kickaha]

No, Aqua was the bonus for me, but just the infrastructure at that point was enough to make this geek spasm into drool puddles.

[MCQ]

Originally Posted by pscates2.0 Even with the Aqua look? Is there a site I can go to that has the history of OS X laid out, complete with screenshots (particularly of pre-MWSF 2000 versions, as well as that MWSF and 10.0 versions?). I've almost forgotten what they look like.

This may help:
http://arstechnica.com/reviews/os/macosx-10.3.ars/2

[naren]

I remember loading the beta on my old Pismo in December or November 2000. No-one told me about the whole RAM requirements thing. "What do you mean it needs more than 64MB?" It was like my my interface had been taken over by very pretty looking molasses.

[bassplayinMacFiend]

I didn't start paying any attention to Apple until the public beta hit the streets (9/2000?). I found appleinsider.com (pre-blackout ) and got hooked by the 'mercury rising' thread. Checked out my first MWSF ever (online of course) in 1/2001. The idea of a shiny new TiBook grew on me until I couldn't take it anymore and ran out to ChumpUSA (no Apple Stores yet) and picked one up on 17/2/2001. Limped along with OS 9 (my experience with 9 was crappity crap) for a little over a month until 10.0.0 came out.

Funny thing, I called Fedex on 24/3/2001 and they said that I could come pick it up since they wouldn't be delivering it on Saturday. A 30 minute ride to the airport later & Fedex tells me it's on the truck for delivery. As a matter of fact, my neighbor had just signed for my copy of OS X.

So, I had to drive back home to get my copy. Silly Fedex people.

Anyway, I installed it that day and haven't looked back. Now I'm on my 3rd Mac (20" iMac G5 woohoo!) and I'm glad I made the switch. Guess I was a 'switcher' before those silly switch ads came out.

I gotta tell ya, about 3 months after getting my first Mac, I was sick and frickin' tired of fixing PC people's computer problems. My Mac 'just worked'. This is one of the main reasons I'm still in Mac-land, because the computer is designed to just work. At first I kinda felt bad that I couldn't put my mad diagnostic & repair skillz to work, but fixing my friend's network issue on his PC cured me of this feeling forever.

[edit]
OK smartypants, I changed the date to 2000.

[psmith2.0]

Originally Posted by bassplayinMacFiend I didn't start paying any attention to Apple until the public beta hit the streets (9/2003?).

Yes, September 2003, one month before Panther came out.

*SMACK!!*

2000?

[Luca]

Eh, he's got all his dates messed up. There's no 17th month! Or 24th month for that matter.

[SilentEchoes]

I had a copy of DP2. I don't know where it came from but its the actual DP2 CD, not a pirated version. So I had installed that in my iMac 233. I was that sick of OS 9 being a pile that I was willing to put up with how slow it was.

Then after a while there was things I would miss when going back to OS 9. Then after a while speed no longer be came an issue because of all the things I hated about OS 9 and all the things I loved about OS X

Man I can't wait till tiger comes out though, Its always fun to see how much faster everything with run with a completely reformatted drive and a new OS.

[Brad]

Originally Posted by MCQ This may help: http://arstechnica.com/reviews/os/macosx-10.3.ars/2

Heh, yeah, I've kept a bookmark on one of Siracusa's review pages for literally five years since he started the DP2 review. Back then, I'd heard about ArsTechnica from a PC buddy (the kind that just loooved HardOCP -- you know the type ) and it quickly became one of my daily stops. When I saw that Mac OS X was going to be getting serious coverage at a site like that, I thought, "Wow. This new OS is going to be some serious business!"

And so it was.

[MCQ]

Originally Posted by Brad Heh, yeah, I've kept a bookmark on one of Siracusa's review pages for literally five years since he started the DP2 review. Back then, I'd heard about ArsTechnica from a PC buddy (the kind that just loooved HardOCP -- you know the type ) and it quickly became one of my daily stops. When I saw that Mac OS X was going to be getting serious coverage at a site like that, I thought, "Wow. This new OS is going to be some serious business!" And so it was.

And Anandtech (another site with a huge PC base), just started up a Mac section. Anand posted an article describing his experience with the Dual 2.0 GHz G5, which is fairly well balanced. He's still using it quite a bit, and is quite impressed with its multitasking (though he is running it with 4GB of RAM )

The tide is slowly changing

[gsxrboy]

I have been using OSX on home pooter as the main OS ever since the PB. I remember getting a hold of the 10.0 retail pack late on the friday after work.. (thx to the friend in a store that hooked me up), I am pretty sure I was one of the first people in the world to have a purchased retail copy running of OSX on my Mac.. p.s. I am in Australia so even further ahead of US folks ... all those damn posts over the forums about what build the retail release was...

[Barto]

I was going to get a PC with Linux/XP, but Mac OS X convinced me that the Mac would be the platform of the future (or at least a futuristic platform). Didn't order a new Mac until I could order the PB with it... when it arrived, I never booted into OS 9, used the PB right from the get go

[Gennx30]

I started with 10.2-and all I can say is-
Apple-release Tiger when it is fully finished and not before.
the whole point of a married, self contained OS/Hardware was that unlike Windows, there are only a very small and finite number of m-boards/machines to deal with in Mac OS;
Hence we shouldnt be needing all these system fixes and security updates- many of which introduce new problems.

Recall that Panther was a big bust out of the gate because of all the firewire mounting problems-excellent PR (not) for what could have been a grand and prestegious rollout.

Please get Tiger right before releasing it-i dont wanna be a beta-tester any longer...

[BuonRotto]

Bug fixes and security updates are inevitable. They can minimize these things, but attaining perfection is just not possible. The only time something like this is "finished" is when it isn't being developed any more. An OS is a big, complex thing, and security in particular is always a moving target.

[cudaboy_71]

os perfection is a journey not a destination. its just nice to know steve has the top down, a hot babe at his side, crusin' along, about to stop for his fourth tank of gas, enjoying some beautiful weather and a nice view.

poor billy's got longhorn broken down on the entrance ramp with a road full of transmission parts laying behind him.

[UnixMac]

Originally Posted by 709 Holy Crap. It doesn't seem that long ago to me. I remember nearly pissing myself with excitement by the installer 'Welcome' screen. I remember staring at the 128x icons for hours, amazed by how beautiful they were. I remember setting the dock animation to BIGGEST and running my mouse over it like a kid with a new toy. I remember being thoroughly confused and excited at the same time in 10.0....which gave way to utter frustration after a few days. I remember walking in the rain to pick up my free copy of 10.1, and literally running back to my office with glee. OSX was finally 'usable'. I remember being scared shitless by the Terminal. I remember installing my first OSX 'native' program (Macromedia Freehand) and how wonderful it was. I remember installing 10.2....and with a big breath decided against installing OS9.

Almost mirrors my memories... I was a Windows man when I heard of OS X, and decided that I had to have it.. I went and dropped a small fortune on a Dual 500 G4 and ordered it with OS X Beta... and remember never using OS 9 for anything, even though it was far snappier than X... but I refused to learn it as I knew the future was unix.

10.1 was a good boost, but it wasn't till 10.2 that it really came of age.

Now I can safely say that Tiger is going to hold me down for 5 years at least.

[futuretheory]

I love X.

I remember when I first plugged my OS X machine into our windows network and...it WORKED! I also remember our IT guy being mad at me because of all the "._DS" files that it put on server...it still does that...so I'm no longer allowed to use in on the network.....

Other than that REALLY ANNOYING THING, I love everything about X and will never go back to anything else.

[psmith2.0]

Originally Posted by cudaboy_71 os perfection is a journey not a destination. its just nice to know steve has the top down, a hot babe at his side, crusin' along, about to stop for his fourth tank of gas, enjoying some beautiful weather and a nice view. poor billy's got longhorn broken down on the entrance ramp with a road full of transmission parts laying behind him.

Lunging for "Car Analogy of the Decade" honors or what?!

[bassplayinMacFiend]

Originally Posted by pscates2.0 Yes, September 2003, one month before Panther came out. *SMACK!!* 2000?

Oops! Of course I meant 2000. Guess they wouldn't have been talking about the imminent release of a G4 laptop in 2003. Guess I gotta fix my post!