Mac OS 9 improved wireless networking support, and introduced Remote Networking, on-the-fly file encryption, and an early version of multi-user support. It did add HFS+ and the ability to clone files in the background at least. Mac OS 8 wasn’t very different from 7-it was named 8 to terminate third-party manufacturers’ licenses to System 7 and stop the manufacturing of Mac clones.

This update was called Mac OS 7.6, and the “Mac OS” naming trend would continue into Mac OS 8 and Mac OS 9 in 19. The naming system of Mac OS changed an the update to System 7. You can emulate System 7 on your current Mac if you’re curious about it. It also added new applications and it changed the user interface quite a bit. It had virtual memory support, built-in cooperative multitasking, and added aliases. In late 1987, System Software 5 finally allowed Mac users to run more than one application at a time, which System Software 6 improved upon in 1988.īig changes came when System 7 arrived in 1991. System 3 and System 4 were released in 19 and allowed Macintosh computers to work with more external devices. System 2 was released in 1985, and added support for AppleTalk networking protocols.

System 1 introduced the menu bar to Apple computers, along with “desk accessory” applications like the Calculator and Alarm Clock. System 1 helped popularize graphical user interfaces, where people clicked on icons instead of typing in code to use their computer. The Macintosh computer was released in 1984 with an OS known as Macintosh System Software, or System 1.

System 7.0 - 7.6 - mac os 9 emulator