Apple Corporation has maintained its position as Microsoft Corporation’s rival in operating system development and computer specifications offerings since its inception in the 1970s. Apple was the brainchild of Steve Wozniak, Steven Jobs and Bill Fernandez. Both Wozniak and Fernandez was already working on a personal computer, which they first built using parts from discarded piles from companies around the Santa Clara area. This first computer was named “cream soda computer”, after the drink they were consuming upon the creation of the first concept. Through Steve, Woz saw the potential of his MOS 6502 Processor and insisted Woz to sell the product. The end product of the first released product of both Woz and Steve is called the Apple I. When Apple I was introduced in 1976, it was met with approval as it presented a video-out capacity for users to view their work through a monitor .
Apple I had a successor known as Apple II, which coincided with the introduction of Apple Computer, Inc. Apple was first launched in January 3, 1977 and released its first public offering on December 12, 1980. The company only began with an offering of $22 per stock. The success of the company was imminent especially for its 40 starting employees as they immediately found themselves as millionaires The IPO was able to raise enough funding on its first week, enabling the company to first have its shareholder meeting in January 1981 in the Flint Center. Despite the popularity of Apple I and II, the company met some failures with Apple III and Project Lisa. However, by 1979, Jef Raskin came up with the first blueprint to the Macintosh, named after his preferred kind of apple. The Macintosh is seen as an easy-to-use and low-cost computer that gives users almost everything they wish to see in a personal computer. In September 1979, Raskin was able to get the go signal from Apple to develop the Macintosh with Burrell Smith, Bill Atkinson, and several software experts such as George Crow, Brian Howard, and Susan Kare. The first Macintosh was shipped on January 24, 1984 with a GUI interface and running under a 128KB RAM. Steve saw the capacity of Mac to improve, however, he had an argument with then Apple CEO John Sculley in 1985 .
With 10.1’s success, many software developers began to see the potential of the Mac system and created software versions that would work with the OS. The Puma also introduces DVD Playback, enabling programs to be installed efficiently. In August 2002, Mac OS 10.2 was released under the code name Jaguar. The Jaguar release gave Apple an increased popularity as it was both usable and flexible for any type of use. The Jaguar was also commended with its fast processing capacity, and the easy interface for users . The updated Jaguar also presents users the Quartz Extreme, improving graphic performance through outsourcing drawing routines to the graphic cards. Jaguar also introduced Mac’s trademark programs namely AddressBook, Rendezvous or Bonjour, network discovery, and the iChat.
The next release Mac OS X 10.3 Panther in October 2003 introduced Mac as a graphics and media operating system, enabling users to gain access to Finder windows, multimedia chatting in iChat, and Apple’s very own server Safari. A multi-user interface is also featured in the Panther update, allowing multiple users to access a single Mac PC; and the Expose, reducing desktop clutter. The Panther paved the way for the evolution of the Mac OS X platform considering its capacity for user efficiency and media capacity. After the Panther release, Apple took two years to develop Mac OS X 10.4 or the Tiger update in April 2005. The update introduced the Spotlight search feature, enabling users to locate their files and peek at its contents. Tiger has also introduced the Dashboard, an add-on that shows miniature icons directing to applications known as widgets. The Tiger update has also been the beginning for Apple to run their operating system through Intel chips rather than use PowerPC-based chips by IBM and Motorola . The most recent update to the Mac OS X system is version 10.8, codenamed Mountain Lion, which is to be released in the second or third quarter of 2012.
Works Cited
Chow, Garrick. Mac OS X Hands-On Training. Berkeley: Peachpit Press, 2003. Print.
O'Grady, Jason. Apple Inc. Westport: Greenwood Press, 2009. Print.
Schermerhorn, John. Management. Hoboken: John Wiley and Sons, 2010. Print.
Standefer, Robert. Macintosh Switcher's Guide. Plano: Wordware Publishing, 2004. Print.
Williams, Justin. Getting StartED With Mac OS X Leopard. Berkeley: Springer, 2007. Print.
