X:Tomorrow's operating system today

2000/11/01 Waliño, Josu - Elhuyar Fundazioa Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Softwarea

When Steve Jobs introduced Mac OS X he said: "Mac OS X will seduce users by its ease and capacity." And ultimately that is the foundation of this operating system: ease and capacity.

Innovative look

Mac OS X is a completely new implementation of the Macintosh operating system, the interface has been modified and a new interface called "Aqua" has been created. This interface technology created by Apple, as it was in Apple's first operating system in the early 1980s, represents a breakthrough in interface issues. You have been added an application called "Dock", that is, documents, videos, applications, web, etc. is a new system of totally visual organization. In addition, the Finder aspect has been renewed, which has radically changed the way files are stored, located and organized. In addition, Aqua offers buttons, scroll and renovated windows with a totally innovative look.

All this has been possible thanks to the new graphical system offered by Mac OS X. This has taken new bases for 2D, 3D and multimedia: 2D graphics are worked using the Quartz system (based on the PDF standard), 3D graphics based on OpenGL technology and multimedia in the QuickTime standard.

Heart like Unix

The heart of the operating system is called Darwin and is the operating system kernel developed by Apple. It is similar to Darwin Linux, so Apple has opted for an open source operating system.

In addition, it can be said that the most stable operating system developed so far for Macintosh, with special memory protection systems, is the one that assigns to each application its part of memory so that in case of failure of an application does not affect others. In addition, it is specially prepared for networks and internet.

But what about apps? Will existing applications work on the new operating system? Apple distinguishes three systems: "Classic", "Carbon" and "Cocoa". The system called "Classic" uses applications that work from version 8. The applications used by the "carbon" system are those that have undergone minor modifications, they have adapted to your new system in a simple way. And the "Cocoa" system uses applications fully adapted to the new operating system, taking full advantage of its effectiveness.

Splitting applications into these three levels allows for progressive migration to the new operating system. Please note that this operating system will only be able to circulate on machines from the G3 and must have a minimum memory of 64 MB. It is not, therefore, an operating system extended to all users, but in the short term it will be the same that will undoubtedly dominate the world of Macintosh.