What is Mac OS X?

Mac OS X is Apple's operating system for its line of Macintosh computers. Its interface, known as Aqua, is built on a Unix foundation originally based on the OPENSTEP technology acquired when Apple purchased NeXT Software, Inc. Although it has much of the look and feel of the former Mac OS, features such as preemptive multitasking, symmetric multiprocessing, multithreading, and protected memory give Mac OS X improved stability and performance. Only Macs with an 867MHz PowerPC G4 or better can run the current version, Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard), and it requires a minimum of 512MB of RAM.

For information about the successive versions of Mac OS X, see What are the major differences between versions of the Macintosh operating system?

Currently three Mac OS X-related products are available:

Mac OS X: This is the version most Macintosh owners should use. It is a consumer operating system designed for use on your personal computer. For more information, see Apple's Mac OS X page and Apple's Developer Connection page for Mac OS X.

Mac OS X Server: As its name implies, this is Apple's server operating system. It is similar to the consumer release of Mac OS X but also includes a suite of network services, such as a print server, file sharing, QuickTime streaming, NetBoot, and advanced web hosting. For more information, see Apple's Mac OS X Server page and Apple's Developer Connection page for Mac OS X Server.

Darwin: Darwin is the Unix-like foundation upon which Mac OS X is based. It is open source and available as a stand-alone operating system. Although Darwin will run many Unix applications, including the X Window System, it does not have the Mac OS X interface and thus will not run Mac OS X applications. For more information, see Apple's Developer Connection open source page.

Also see:

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Last modified on June 10, 2008.

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