Happy Birthday OS X!


Yesterday marked the seventh year, to the day, of the release of Mac OS X. For me, it’s hard to believe its been that long, on one hand. On the other, it seems like just yesterday.

Back before OS X I hadn’t spent much time on a Mac. One of our computer labs in school had Macintosh machines, but they were very old, and we didn’t use them very much. I had spent more time on an Apple II in my youth than I ever had on a Mac, and while I was never all that happy with Windows, I didn’t see anything coming from the Mac side of computing to really care about.

Then came Quicktime, and the Star Wars prequels. Watching that first trailer for “The Phantom Menace” required Quicktime – and you had to get that from Apple. That was the first time I paid attention to Apple at all. I thought the iMacs were colorful and interesting, certainly more “fun” looking that the machines in our school computer lab, but nothing that I felt like I had to have for myself.

Then one day, I walked into a local CompUSA and saw their Macs. I’d been seeing some stuff about OS X and these new generations of Macs on Apple’s website. So I decided to go check them out. I walked over to an iMac, grabbed the mouse, and started it clicking around.

I was sold instantly.

OS X was so completely different than Windows 95 or ME, it was like a computer from a sci-fi movie. Bright shiny graphics, slick animations for everything including minimizing a window…and the dock. I know not everyone loves the dock…but I do. OS X had me at the dock.

😛

It was a few years later before I could buy a Mac. I had to wait for the first generation Mini to get something in my price range, but since then, there has been no looking back.

So Happy Birthday OS X – here’s to seven more years of awesomeness.


Kokou Adzo

Kokou Adzo is a stalwart in the tech journalism community, has been chronicling the ever-evolving world of Apple products and innovations for over a decade. As a Senior Author at Apple Gazette, Kokou combines a deep passion for technology with an innate ability to translate complex tech jargon into relatable insights for everyday users.

6 Comments

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  1. I too remember walking into CompUSA and seeing a G4 running Quicktime playing Shrek. I think it was a 23″ Cinema Display at the time. I was sold! I wanted one so bad but I didn’t have the money. I saved and saved until finally I could afford a Mac setup. Now, about three years later, I have a Mac Pro and MacBook. I too, have never looked back.

  2. As for a recent switcher it was truly amazing for me to watch YouTube videos from Macworld 2000 (OS X Introduction)… That made me think… In 2007 I still used ugly, crappy and outdated Windows. Vista turned out to be a total disaster for me so I returned to use XP. But 7 years earlier there already was introduced something much, much better than anything from Microsoft even today… I almost can’t forgive myself that it took me so long to take a serious look at a Mac… So much time wasted fighting idiotic problems and using ultra-counter-intuitive UI.
    So, cheers to OSX! 🙂

  3. I was first forced to use a Mac in college for my computer graphics class in 2003. The Mac lab was mostly G3s and a couple G4s and they all ran OS9… I HATED these computers. It even became a running joke with me and my teacher. Then a year later I got a job (the one I still have) as a graphic designer, and was introduced to OS X. Once I got through the growing pains I never looked back and I’ve managed to convert a few others along the way. Now, I absolutely HATE doing anything on a PC.

  4. It’s really interesting to knowing others’ experience of be in touch with Apple and Macs. I can’t remember too clearly, but I’m sure it was the Mac OS9 that I first clicking around at some kind of the computers exhibition held in Taipei. It’s a long time from now. Even so, I still can’t believe either that I had a MacBook and it will be two years just for a few months.

    (so if I my English is weired, I felt sorry about that… ^^”)

  5. When I first installed OS X I bought a package off of ebay: 10.0 full install CD and the 10.1 upgrade CD. Then a few months later I got a 10.2 upgrade CD. Was quite annoying having to install 10.0, then upgrade to 10.1, then finally upgrade to 10.2 whenever I redid my system. Thankfully OS X is so rock solid I rarely had to reinstall…

    It’ll be interesting to see when Apple decided to drop the “X”. I am guessing in 2010 they will change the name to something different.