MAC OS
Introduction:
Mac OS, which is the abbreviation for Macintosh Operating System, is one of the operating
systems available in the market nowadays. Unlike Windows, Mac OS is a graphical user
interface-based (GUI) operating system specially designed only for Macintosh computers. It was
the first operating system in the world developed by Apple Incorporation in 1984 (Mac OS, n.d.).
Although the existence of Windows had grabbed the computer users’ first choice from Mac OS,
the latter is publicly known as the biggest rival of the former. This situation can be seen as the
population of Mac users gradually increases day by day.
Advantages:
First of all, Mac OS appears to be more user-friendly and it is suitable for all new computer
learners in different stage due to its high reputation on GUI
Mac OS is much more secure compare to other operating systems. This is because most of the
viruses and adware are Window-based, and they will not run on Mac
Disadvantages:
First of all, the price of Macintosh computers is one of the factors that make the computer users
not to purchase it
Secondly, Mac users may find it troublesome when most of the programs and software
especially games available in Windows are not supported by Mac OS (Daniels, n.d.).
History:
In 1984, Apple Inc. introduced their first Macintosh computer system which was bundled with a
newly released operating system. The operating system was formerly known as System software
instead of Macintosh Operating System. Its original design was partly based on Lisa operating
system which was designed for Apple’s Lisa computer system (“History of Mac OS”, n.d.). One of
the founders of System was Jeff Raskin (“History of Mac OS”, n.d.). By then, Mac computers were
powered by Motorola 68000 microprocessor. As time goes by, System has undergone
revolution. This revolution has separated the operating system into two families – the Mac OS
Classic family and the Mac OS X family.
The first version of Mac OS, which was called System, was in the Classic family. The Mac
OS Classic family was actually based on Apple’s original code (“Mac OS”, n.d.). That time,
it was only compatible with Apple’s computers powered by Motorola 68000
microprocessor. The Classic family was popular and unique compared to the other
operating systems available because it uses graphical user interface (GUI) instead of
command line interface which was used in MS-DOS. This provides a user-friendly
interface for the users, which made the Apple’s computers easier to use.
For the first few version of System which is System 1 to System 4, they only can run an
application at a time (Par Web Solutions, 2005). Only until System 5 was released, the
system can finally do multitasking, ie. ability to run more than 1 application at the same
time. However, this was not officialized and widely used until System 6 was released. In
1991, System 7 was released. There were a few significant events that occurred. Firstly,
System 7.1.2 was used to run in the first Apple computer powered by PowerPC
processor. The whole operating system had to be rewritten in order to run properly on
PowerMac computers. Later, the operating system had finally changed its name from
System to Macintosh Operating System (Mac OS). Mac OS 9 is the final version in the
Classic Mac OS family.
.MacOsXfamily.png
In 1999, the first version of Mac OS X from the Mac OS X family was released – Mac OS
X Server 1.0. Only in March 2001, the Mac OS X 10.0: Cheetah for desktop was released.
‘X’, which is the Roman numeral for number 10, can be read as “ten” or “axe”. Mac OS X,
unlike the previous versions from the classic family, is based on Unix operating system
(“Mac OS history”, n.d.). However, this version was criticized for its slow performance.
Soon, the later version had solved this problem and further enhanced its performance.
The part that distinguished Mac OS X from other operating systems would be the name
made for the every version. All the versions in the Mac OS X family were named after the
cat family. They are Cheetah(10.0), Puma(10.1), Jaguar(10.2), Panther(10.3), Tiger(10.4),
Leopard(10.5) and followed by the latest version Snow Leopard(10.6). In 2006, Apple’s
Macintosh computers powered by Intel processor were introduced with the upgraded
version of Tiger. Then, Mac computers can run on both processor, ie. PowerPC and Intel.
Later, Mac computers brought in the dual boot camp and Virtual PC software which
allow Intel-Mac users to run more than 1 operating system on the same computer.
Soon, Leopard had become the last version that can still run on Mac computers with
both processors because the latest version, Snow Leopard, is designed only to run on
Intel-Mac computers.
Process Management:
Each process in iOS is made up of one or more threads. Each thread represents a single
path of execution. Each application starts with a single thread, which runs the
application's main function. When an application spawns a new thread, that thread
becomes an independent entity inside the application's process space.
