Mac OS 9

Apple billed Mac OS 9 as including "50 new features" and heavily marketed its Sherlock 2 software, which introduced a "channels" feature for searching different online resources and introduced a QuickTime-like metallic appearance. Mac OS 9 also featured integrated support for Apple's suite of Internet services known as iTools (later re-branded as .Mac, then MobileMe, which was replaced by iCloud) and included improved TCP/IP functionality with Open Transport 2.5.

Other features new to Mac OS 9 include:[5]

• Integrated support for multiple user accounts without using At Ease.
• Support for voice login through VoicePrint passwords.
• Keychain, a feature allowing users to save passwords and textual data encrypted in protected keychains.
• A Software Update control panel for automatic download and installation of Apple system software updates.
• A redesigned Sound control panel and support for USB audio.
• Speakable Items 2.0, also known as PlainTalk, featuring improved speech synthesis and recognition along with AppleScript integration.[6]
• Improved font management through FontSync.
• Remote Access Personal Server 3.5, including support for TCP/IP clients over Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP).
• An updated version of AppleScript with support for TCP/IP.
• Personal File Sharing over TCP/IP.
• USB Printer Sharing, a control panel allowing certain USB printers to be shared across a TCP/IP network.
• 128-bit file encryption in the Finder.
• Support for files larger than 2 GB.
• Unix volume support.
• CD Burning in the Finder (introduced in Mac OS 9.1).
• Addition of a "Window" menu to the Finder (introduced in Mac OS 9.1)

PowerPC versions of Mac OS X prior to 10.5 include a compatibility layer (a shell) called Classic, enabling users to run applications and hardware requiring Mac OS 9 from within OS X. This is achieved through running Mac OS 9 without access to its Finder inside OS X. This requires Mac OS 9 to be installed on the computer even though most computers that can run the Classic environment are not necessarily able to boot into Mac OS 9 natively. Some Mac OS 9 applications do not run well in Classic. They demonstrate screen redraw problems and lagging performance. In addition, some drivers and other software which directly interact with the hardware fail to work properly.

In May 2002, at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference in San Jose, California, Steve Jobs, accompanied by a coffin, held a mock funeral[4] to announce that Apple had stopped the development of Mac OS 9. The final version of Mac OS 9 and the "classic" Mac OS was Mac OS 9.2.2, released in December 2001.

In June 2005, Jobs announced that the Macintosh platform would be transitioning to Intel x86 microprocessors. Developer documentation of the Rosetta PowerPC emulation layer revealed that applications written for Mac OS 8 or 9 would not run on x86-based Macs. The Classic Environment remains in the PowerPC version of 10.4; however, x86 versions of OS X do not support the Classic environment.

Mac OS 9 can be emulated by using SheepShaver, a PowerPC emulator available on multiple operating systems, including Intel-based Macs. However, SheepShaver cannot run Mac OS versions newer than 9.0.4, as there is no support for a memory management unit. The PearPC PowerPC emulator does not support Mac OS 9.[7] QEMU has experimental support for running Mac OS 9 using PowerPC G4 emulation.[8]

The final Macs that were able to boot into Mac OS 9 natively without resorting to the Classic environment were the 867 MHz and 1 GHz "Antimony" Titanium PowerBook G4 released in November 2002 and the 1 GHz and 1.25 GHz "Mirrored Drive Doors" Power Mac G4 released in August 2002 (which was re-released in June 2003 due to a perceived demand for Mac OS 9 machines). These machines were released around the time when Mac OS 9 was still offered on some Macs up until 2004, even though development had stopped in late 2001.

Both the "Antimony" Titanium PowerBook G4 and the "Mirrored Drive Doors" Power Mac G4 came preinstalled with both Mac OS 9 and Mac OS X in a dual-boot configuration (with Mac OS X being selected by default). The "Antimony" Titanium PowerBook G4 was the last PowerBook model able to run Mac OS 9 natively, whereas the "Mirrored Drive Doors" Power Mac G4 was one of the last Mac models overall to officially boot into Mac OS 9. While these final models of the Macs and PowerBooks have G4 processors with faster clock speeds up to 1 GHz and 1.25 GHz respectively, they were able to boot into Mac OS 9 natively without any issues.

The majority of G4 Macs released in 2003 that have a 1 GHz and higher processor never had their "Mac OS ROM" boot files updated to allow those Macs to natively boot into Mac OS 9 outside of the Classic environment. All G5 Macs will not boot Mac OS 9 at all because there was no support for G5 processors on Mac OS 9 (Mac OS 9 only supported G3 and G4 processors as of Mac OS 9.2.2). Therefore, those Macs can only run Mac OS 9 under the Classic environment or other software.

In recent years, unofficial patches for Mac OS 9 and the "Mac OS ROM" have been made to allow unsupported G4 Macs to boot into Mac OS 9; however this is not officially supported by Apple.[9]

Aside from Apple-branded hardware that is still maintained and operated, Mac OS 9 can be operated in other environments such as Windows and Unix.[10] For example, the aforementioned SheepShaver software was initially not designed for use on x86 platforms and required an actual PowerPC processor present in the machine it was running on similar to a hypervisor. Although it provides PowerPC processor support, it can only run up to Mac OS 9.0.4 because it does not emulate a memory management unit.

Updates to Mac OS 9 include 9.0.4, 9.1, 9.2.1, and 9.2.2. Mac OS 9.0.4 was a collection of bug fixes primarily relating to USB and FireWire support. Mac OS 9.1 included integrated CD burning support in the Macintosh Finder and added a new Window menu in the Finder for switching between open windows. Mac OS 9.2 increased performance noticeably and improved Classic Environment support.

1. ¹Some newest G3 and most G4 Macs can only run at least Mac OS 9.1, and some only run at least Mac OS 9.2. This is because the late development of G3 Macs and the mid-development of G4 Macs was during the development of Mac OS 9 and only the versions the G4 Macs support were designed to be compatible with those G4 Macs.
2. ¹Some newest G4 and all G5 Macs can only run at least Mac OS 9.2, and can only run its compatible versions of Mac OS 9 in OS X's Classic Environment because the "Mac OS ROM" was never updated to allow those Macs, which were developed during the OS X era, to directly boot it (but probably continued to run in userspace, with the restriction that it would only run at least Mac OS 9.2, so it was still supported in the Classic Environment).
3. ¹Although Mac OS 9.2 to 9.2.2 officially requires a G3 processor, certain second generation Power Macs can be made to run it using the tool "OS9 Helper", allowing for such benefits like support for ATI's latest classic Mac OS drivers, full iPod compatibility, and the ability to run DVD Studio Pro 1.5 or 1.2.1 and Final Cut Pro 3, among other things.[12][13]

• List of Apple operating systems

Timeline of Mac operating systems

• Technical Note TN1176 Mac OS 9 at the Wayback Machine (archived March 30, 2009) from apple.com
• Technical Note TN1194: Mac OS 9.0.4 at the Wayback Machine (archived February 23, 2004) from apple.com
• Technical Note TN2010: Mac OS 9.1 at the Wayback Machine (archived April 4, 2004) from apple.com
• Apple | iMac Firmware Update at the Wayback Machine (archived March 3, 2008)