Mac OS 9 is the ninth major release of Apple's

classic Mac OS Mac OS (originally System Software; retronym: Classic Mac OS) is the series of operating systems developed for the Macintosh family of personal computers by Apple Computer from 1984 to 2001, starting with System 1 and ending with Mac OS 9. The ...

operating system which was succeeded by Mac OS X (renamed to OS X in 2011 and macOS in 2016) in 2001. Introduced on October 23, 1999, it was promoted by Apple as "The Best Internet Operating System Ever", highlighting Sherlock 2's Internet search capabilities, integration with Apple's free online services known as iTools and improved

Open Transport Open Transport was the name given by Apple Inc. to its implementation of the Unix-originated UNIX System V, System V STREAMS networking stack. Based on code licensed from Mentat's Mentat Portable Streams, Portable Streams product, Open Transport wa ...

networking. While Mac OS 9 lacks protected memory and full pre-emptive multitasking, lasting improvements include the introduction of an automated

Software Update A patch is a set of changes to a computer program or its supporting data designed to update, fix, or improve it. This includes fixing security vulnerabilities and other bugs, with such patches usually being called bugfixes or bug fixes. Patches ...

engine and support for

multiple users Multi-user software is computer software that allows access by multiple users of a computer. Time-sharing systems are multi-user systems. Most batch processing systems for mainframe computers may also be considered "multi-user", to avoid leaving t ...

. Apple discontinued development of Mac OS 9 in late 2001, transitioning all future development to Mac OS X. The final updates to Mac OS 9 addressed compatibility issues with Mac OS X while running in the Classic Environment and compatibility with Carbon applications. At the 2002 Worldwide Developers Conference,

Steve Jobs Steven Paul Jobs (February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011) was an American entrepreneur, industrial designer, media proprietor, and investor. He was the co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Apple; the chairman and majority shareholder of Pixar; a ...

began his

keynote A keynote in public speaking is a talk that establishes a main underlying theme. In corporate or commercial settings, greater importance is attached to the delivery of a keynote speech or keynote address. The keynote establishes the framework fo ...

address by staging a mock funeral for OS 9.

Features

Apple billed Mac OS 9 as including "50 new features" and heavily marketed its Sherlock 2 software, which introduced a "channels" feature for searching different online resources and introduced a

QuickTime QuickTime is an extensible multimedia framework developed by Apple Inc., capable of handling various formats of digital video, picture, sound, panoramic images, and interactivity. Created in 1991, the latest Mac version, QuickTime X, is avai ...

-like metallic appearance. Mac OS 9 also featured integrated support for Apple's suite of Internet services known as iTools (later re-branded as .Mac, then

MobileMe MobileMe (branded iTools between 2000 and 2002; .Mac until 2008) is a discontinued subscription-based collection of online services and software offered by Apple Inc. All services were gradually transitioned to and eventually replaced by the f ...

, which was replaced by iCloud) and included improved TCP/IP functionality with

2.5. Other features new to Mac OS 9 include: *Integrated support for multiple user accounts without using

At Ease At Ease was an alternative to the Macintosh desktop developed by Apple Computer in the early 1990s for the classic Mac OS. It provided a simple environment for new Macintosh users and young children to help them to work without supervision. At ...

. *Support for voice login through VoicePrint passwords. * Keychain, a feature allowing users to save passwords and textual data encrypted in protected keychains. *A Software Update control panel for automatic download and installation of Apple system software updates. *A redesigned Sound control panel and support for USB audio. *Speakable Items 2.0, also known as PlainTalk, featuring improved speech synthesis and recognition along with AppleScript integration. *Improved font management through FontSync. *Remote Access Personal Server 3.5, including support for TCP/IP clients over Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP). *An updated version of AppleScript with support for TCP/IP. *Personal File Sharing over TCP/IP. *USB Printer Sharing, a control panel allowing certain USB printers to be shared across a TCP/IP network. *128-bit file encryption in the Finder. *Support for files larger than 2 GB. * Unix volume support. *CD Burning in the Finder (introduced in Mac OS 9.1). *Addition of a "Window" menu to the Finder (introduced in Mac OS 9.1)

Mac OS 9 and the Classic Environment

PowerPC PowerPC (with the backronym Performance Optimization With Enhanced RISC – Performance Computing, sometimes abbreviated as PPC) is a reduced instruction set computer (RISC) instruction set architecture (ISA) created by the 1991 Apple Inc., App ...

versions of Mac OS X prior to 10.5 include a compatibility layer (a shell) called Classic, enabling users to run applications and hardware requiring Mac OS 9 from within OS X. This is achieved through running Mac OS 9 without access to its Finder inside OS X. This requires Mac OS 9 to be installed on the computer even though most computers that can run the Classic environment are not necessarily able to boot into Mac OS 9. Some Mac OS 9 applications do not run well in Classic. They demonstrate screen redraw problems and lagging performance. In addition, some drivers and other software which directly interact with the hardware fail to work properly. In May 2002, at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference in San Jose, California,

, accompanied by a

coffin A coffin is a funerary box used for viewing or keeping a corpse, either for burial or cremation. Sometimes referred to as a casket, any box in which the dead are buried is a coffin, and while a casket was originally regarded as a box for jewel ...

, held a mock

funeral A funeral is a ceremony connected with the final disposition of a corpse, such as a burial or cremation, with the attendant observances. Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember and respect th ...

to announce that Apple had stopped development of Mac OS 9. Mac OS 9.2.2, released in December 2001, was the final version of Mac OS 9 and the "classic" Mac OS. In June 2005, Jobs announced that the Macintosh platform would be transitioning to Intel x86 microprocessors. Developer documentation of the Rosetta PowerPC emulation layer revealed that applications written for Mac OS 8 or 9 would not run on x86-based Macs. The Classic Environment remains in the PowerPC version of 10.4; however, x86 versions of OS X do not support the Classic environment. Mac OS 9 can be emulated by using SheepShaver, a PowerPC emulator available on multiple operating systems, including Intel-based Macs. However, SheepShaver cannot run Mac OS versions newer than 9.0.4, as there is no support for a memory management unit. The

PearPC PearPC is an architecture-independent PowerPC platform emulator capable of running many PowerPC operating systems, including pre-Intel versions of Mac OS X, Darwin and Linux. It is released under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL ...

PowerPC emulator does not support Mac OS 9. QEMU has experimental support for running Mac OS 9 using PowerPC G4 emulation. The majority of G4 Macs released in 2003 that have a 1 GHz and higher processor cannot boot into Mac OS 9 outside of the Classic environment as the "Mac OS ROM" was never updated to allow those Macs, which were developed during the OS X era, to directly boot it (All G5 Macs cannot boot into Mac OS 9 at all since Mac OS 9 does not recognize the G5 processors, and therefore can only be run under the Classic environment). An exception to this rule is the 1 GHz "Antimony" Titanium PowerBook G4 released in November 2002, which is able to boot both Mac OS 9 and Mac OS X natively and is installed in a “ dual-boot” configuration (with Mac OS X being selected by default). However, this was the final

PowerBook The PowerBook (known as Macintosh PowerBook before 1997) is a family of Macintosh laptop computers designed, manufactured and sold by Apple Computer from 1991 to 2006. During its lifetime, the PowerBook went through several major revisions and r ...

that could natively boot into Mac OS 9 officially at the fastest speed of 1 GHz. Furthermore, the 1 GHz and 1.25 GHz "Mirrored Drive Doors"

Power Mac G4 The Power Mac G4 is a series of personal computers designed, manufactured, and sold by Apple Computer from 1999 to 2004 as part of the Power Macintosh line. Built around the PowerPC G4 series of microprocessors, the Power Mac G4 was marketed by ...

released in August 2002 and re-released in June 2003 were also able to boot into Mac OS 9 natively and is one of the last Macs to officially boot into Mac OS 9, again at faster speeds up to 1.25 GHz. In recent years, unofficial patches for Mac OS 9 and the "Mac OS ROM" have been made to allow unsupported G4 Macs to boot into Mac OS 9, though this is not officially supported by Apple.

Other uses

Aside from Apple-branded hardware that is still maintained and operated, Mac OS 9 can be operated in other environments such as Windows and Unix. For example, the aforementioned SheepShaver software was initially not designed for use on x86 platforms and required an actual PowerPC processor present in the machine it was running on similar to a hypervisor. Although it provides PowerPC processor support, it can only run up to Mac OS 9.0.4 because it does not emulate a memory management unit.

Version history

Updates to Mac OS 9 include 9.0.4, 9.1, 9.2.1, and 9.2.2. Mac OS 9.0.4 was a collection of bug fixes primarily relating to USB and FireWire support. Mac OS 9.1 included integrated CD burning support in the

Macintosh Finder The Finder is the default file manager and graphical user interface shell used on all Macintosh operating systems. Described in its "About" window as "The Macintosh Desktop Experience", it is responsible for the launching of other applications, ...

and added a new Window menu in the Finder for switching between open windows. Mac OS 9.2 increased performance noticeably and improved Classic Environment support.

Compatibility

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References

External links

* from apple.com * from apple.com * from apple.com TN1176 Mac OS 9 from apple.com * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mac Os 9 1999 software Classic Mac OS PowerPC operating systems