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EntityQ904519· pop 29· linked from 364 articles

Also known as OS 9, classic Mac OS 9, Classic 9

operating system

Key facts

Developer
Apple Computer
Os family
Macintosh
Working state
Historic, unsupported
Source model
Closed source
Released to manufacturing
October 23, 1999 ; 26 years ago ( October 23, 1999 )
Latest release
9.2.2 / December 5, 2001 ; 24 years ago ( 2001-12-05 )
Supported platforms
PowerPC
Kernel type
Microkernel
Default user interface
Apple Platinum
License
Proprietary
Preceded by
Mac OS 8
Succeeded by
Mac OS X 10.0 Mac OS X Server 1.0
Official website
Apple - Products - Mac OS 9 at the Wayback Machine (archived November 9, 2000)
Tagline
Your Internet co-pilot.

via Wikipedia infobox

~11 min read

Encyclopedic overview

Mac OS 9 is the ninth and final major release of the classic Mac OS operating system for Macintosh computers, made by Apple Computer, Inc. (now Apple Inc.). Introduced on October 23, 1999, it was promoted by Apple as "The Best Internet Operating System Ever", highlighting Sherlock 2’s Internet search capabilities, integration with Apple's free online services known as iTools and improved Open Transport networking.

While Mac OS 9 lacks protected memory and full pre-emptive multitasking, lasting improvements include the introduction of an automated Software Update engine and support for multiple users. It was succeeded by Mac OS X 10.0 in 2001, the first version of the Mac OS X (now macOS) family of operating systems.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Mac OS 9” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.