What was everyone's favorite Mac OS?

[Le Big Mac]

Of course Tiger. Why would Apple release new version of OS if it is not better than the older one?

Well, Microsoft might do something like that.

It's a pretty goofy question though. The only way for it to make sense is to treat it as "which Mac OS was your favorite, considering the alternatives available at the time?" Of course Tiger is better than any classic OS, because it's much more advanced adn refined. And it's probably best even on relative terms. BUt at least there's a question there.

 

[bosrs1]

No chance to vote for system's 1-5?

Considering they were just earlier watered down versions of what eventually became 6.0.x I figured why bother.

 

[bosrs1]

I have my 8600 set to run Blue Box on the second display...it makes it nice when I'm working in apps in both environments.

This is what it looks like when both are running together...

Very nice. Where did you get all of this Rhapsody and Server 1.0 stuff? I can't find it anywhere.

 

[Satori]

Considering they were just earlier watered down versions of what eventually became 6.0.x I figured why bother.

Fair point.... but as someone else has pointed out in this thread, you always have a soft spot for what you started out with. For me it was system 3.0 on a Mac Plus.

 

[bosrs1]

Fair point.... but as someone else has pointed out in this thread, you always have a soft spot for what you started out with. For me it was system 3.0 on a Mac Plus.

Good point. I would modify it to add them in but alas...

Also I think I was a bit unfair to Systems 1-5 as I started on 6.0.8 so I was a bit biased.

 

[Satori]

Good point. I would modify it to add them in but alas...

Also I think I was a bit unfair to Systems 1-5 as I started on 6.0.8 so I was a bit biased.

No prob... I ended up voting for Tiger anyway. While you'll always cherish the memory of your first love, you should always pay closest attention to the current one!!
D

 

[RacerX]

Very nice. Where did you get all of this Rhapsody and Server 1.0 stuff? I can't find it anywhere.

I started collecting this stuff back in 1997 right after Apple acquired NeXT.

I started out with NEXTSTEP 3.3 (in 1997) and moved to OPENSTEP 4.1 (1999) and OPENSTEP 4.2 (2000). I got my first copy of Rhapsody 5.1 in 1999 and Rhapsody 5.0 in 2001. I got Rhapsody 5.6 (Mac OS X Server 1.2) and my Wallstreet PowerBook G3 at the same time (to run them together) in the spring of 2002. I found both Rhapsody 5.3 (Mac OS X Server 1.0) and another copy of Rhapsody 5.6 (Mac OS X Server 1.2v3) at the end of 2004 (both of those were on ebay for around $35 each).

My copy of Rhapsody 5.3 is one of the mislabeled disks (saying it is Mac OS X Server 1.1). So I'm still looking for Rhapsody 5.3 media... I need a disk labeled "1.0" and the other mislabeld version of "1.1". I'm also looking for the Mac OS X Server 1.2 upgrade CD (this CD upgrades Rhapsody 5.3-5.5 to 5.6) for my collection.

The applications I use on Rhapsody I've bought directly from the developers... for example I own copies of both Create 5.x (licensed for both OPENSTEP and Rhapsody) and Create 10.0 (for Rhapsody).

Some developers won't even sell licenses anymore (AFS will not sell licenses for either WriteUp or PasteUp even at their unreasonably high prices), while other software has become free (RBrowser, LaunchBar and ScanOmatic).

I've had good luck getting apps for free for the community for NEXTSTEP/OPENSTEP users, but Rhapsody apps and Mac OS X apps are a little too closely related to get free versions for Rhapsody. For example, because TIFFany3 works on OPENSTEP, Rhapsody and Mac OS X, I can't get a code for the Rhapsody community because Apple owns the rights to TIFFany3. TIFFany II was given to the NeXT community before Apple bought Caffeine Software, so I was given permission to provide that app and the license keys on my NeXT site by Caffeine Software.


But back to your question, I got most of this stuff a long time ago and have been a Rhapsody Power User for years now... and lately have pretty much become the last person to actually use Rhapsody as a productive (non-server) platform. Actually I had never used Mac OS X Server 1.x as a server until the fall of last year when I replaced my 7500 with an 8600 as my main Rhapsody system. I didn't have the heart to take down the 7500, so I activated the server software on the systems which had been turned off or hadn't been set up.

 

[bosrs1]

I started collecting this stuff back in 1997 right after Apple acquired NeXT.

I started out with NEXTSTEP 3.3 (in 1997) and moved to OPENSTEP 4.1 (1999) and OPENSTEP 4.2 (2000). I got my first copy of Rhapsody 5.1 in 1999 and Rhapsody 5.0 in 2001. I got Rhapsody 5.6 (Mac OS X Server 1.2) and my Wallstreet PowerBook G3 at the same time (to run them together) in the spring of 2002. I found both Rhapsody 5.3 (Mac OS X Server 1.0) and another copy of Rhapsody 5.6 (Mac OS X Server 1.2v3) at the end of 2004 (both of those were on ebay for around $35 each).

My copy of Rhapsody 5.3 is one of the mislabeled disks (saying it is Mac OS X Server 1.1). So I'm still looking for Rhapsody 5.3 media... I need a disk labeled "1.0" and the other mislabeld version of "1.1". I'm also looking for the Mac OS X Server 1.2 upgrade CD (this CD upgrades Rhapsody 5.3-5.5 to 5.6) for my collection.

The applications I use on Rhapsody I've bought directly from the developers... for example I own copies of both Create 5.x (licensed for both OPENSTEP and Rhapsody) and Create 10.0 (for Rhapsody).

Some developers won't even sell licenses anymore (AFS will not sell licenses for either WriteUp or PasteUp even at their unreasonably high prices), while other software has become free (RBrowser, LaunchBar and ScanOmatic).

I've had good luck getting apps for free for the community for NEXTSTEP/OPENSTEP users, but Rhapsody apps and Mac OS X apps are a little too closely related to get free versions for Rhapsody. For example, because TIFFany3 works on OPENSTEP, Rhapsody and Mac OS X, I can't get a code for the Rhapsody community because Apple owns the rights to TIFFany3. TIFFany II was given to the NeXT community before Apple bought Caffeine Software, so I was given permission to provide that app and the license keys on my NeXT site by Caffeine Software.


But back to your question, I got most of this stuff a long time ago and have been a Rhapsody Power User for years now... and lately have pretty much become the last person to actually use Rhapsody as a productive (non-server) platform. Actually I had never used Mac OS X Server 1.x as a server until the fall of last year when I replaced my 7500 with an 8600 as my main Rhapsody system. I didn't have the heart to take down the 7500, so I activated the server software on the systems which had been turned off or hadn't been set up.

Very very cool man. I'm green with envy. I guess I'll grab what I can out there and see if I have any luck finding any of the OS's from NeXTSTEP up to Server 1.0.

 

[dmw007]

Tiger.

 

[QuarterSwede]

I'll definitely say Tiger. It is the first Apple OS that I actually like. Not that I liked Windows, I just had an intense hatred for OS9. I was only interested in OS X when Jobs showed off Tiger. Spotlight simply blew me away and Dashboard was exactly what I'd always wanted (I'm one of those who have 1000's of stickies because my memory is terrible).

Just after Tiger came out I bought a PowerBook which is the best computer purchase I've ever made. And now I find myself loathing to use a Windows PC. I can't believe I actually hate it more now than I use to!

 

[bousozoku]

I voted for Tiger. I'm still waiting for something better.

System 6 was light, System 7 was broken, Mac OS 8 was better but slow, and Mac OS 9 was a faster catastrophe with a minimum of compatibility.

I'm just glad that I'm not messing with memory figures to get something working. It's as bad as dealing with conventional memory on DOS.

 

[regre7]

I was converted by Tiger, so I have to go with it.

My first exposure to Mac was a rather old one that sat on a table upstairs at the local library. No one ever touched it, so one day (I was probably 8 or so, 16 now) I decided to screw around with it. I don't know which OS it was, but I remember one cool program. I think it was some 3D graphing software, and I made cool shapes on it. I still remember the happy Mac startup. It has since disappeared.

 

[weg]

What was everyone's favorite Mac OS from the earliest days of yore to today?

NewtonOS was nice ;-)

 

[onthat]

Tiger is a beast!

 

[wonga1127]

I was converted by Tiger, so I have to go with it.

My first exposure to Mac was a rather old one that sat on a table upstairs at the local library. No one ever touched it, so one day (I was probably 8 or so, 16 now) I decided to screw around with it. I don't know which OS it was, but I remember one cool program. I think it was some 3D graphing software, and I made cool shapes on it. I still remember the happy Mac startup. It has since disappeared.

They should bring that little happy mac back.

 

[Dunepilot]

Noone's mentioned BeOS, the MacOS that nearly was.

 

[MacsRgr8]

I have my 8600 set to run Blue Box on the second display...it makes it nice when I'm working in apps in both environments.

This is what it looks like when both are running together...

That is cool!
I like that!

 

[iShane]

I voted Mac OS 10.4 Tiger because I always like the newest and advanced things.

 

[Queso]

OS 8.6 geeze it was stable.....

8.6 was damn good. I had that on my iMac DV until OSX came out and I updated it to 9.0.4 or something. OS9 was rubbish in comparison to OS8. It crashed more and actually seemed slower. However, I voted for Tiger, which is the best workhorse MacOS for my needs.

 

[bosrs1]

NewtonOS was nice ;-)

Alas I wouldn't consider that a Mac OS.

 

[Core Trio]

Since I've only used Jaguar, Panther, and Tiger....


...yeah I think im gonna have to go with Tiger

 

[Dunepilot]

8.6 was damn good. I had that on my iMac DV until OSX came out and I updated it to 9.0.4 or something. OS9 was rubbish in comparison to OS8. It crashed more and actually seemed slower. However, I voted for Tiger, which is the best workhorse MacOS for my needs.

8.6 was fast, but I must say I didn't find it particularly stable. I ran it on a network of iMacs with MacAdministrator, and they crashed all of the time.

Pre OS X, if you were to perform one task (say using your Mac as a Digital Audio Workstation), then you could get a reasonable level stability, but my experience of running a number of different apps with their attendant extensions was that things were really pretty shaky.

 

[Queso]

8.6 was fast, but I must say I didn't find it particularly stable. I ran it on a network of iMacs with MacAdministrator, and they crashed all of the time.

I found it fine once you removed all the unnecessary extensions from the default set. For example, for some reason, you would get four or five video card drivers loaded by default. Tidy all that up and it was smooth as.

 

[RacerX]

I found it fine once you removed all the unnecessary extensions from the default set.

Same here... I've found that I can go weeks between restarts on my PowerBook 3400c using 8.6.

And beyond managing extensions, I usually quit apps in the reverse order in which I've opened them and have Macsbug installed (which aids the partial protected memory by giving me an easy way to kill a bad app). I can't recall the last time I had to restart because of a crash... though it may have been back in February (I don't recall the specifics of it though).

All and all, my 8.6 systems (3400c, Duo 2300c, 8100av and Blue Box) have been very well behaved (and productive) systems for me.

 

[RacerX]

Wow, looking at the poll there are 4 votes for Rhapsody/Mac OS X Server 1.0... that's amazing!





And no, I didn't vote more than once!