MacOS 8
By William "It's Alive!" LH
As many, I have anxiously awaited the arrival of a new and improved Mac OS. I was all giddy when I first heard about Copland (the code name for the original Mac OS 8), and then due to the length of time Copland was in development and how far behind it was, Apple decided to scrap Copland altogether. So we were left hungering for a new Mac OS with all the features Copland had promised and maybe some features we had not thought of.
Enter Mac OS 8. Although not Copland, Mac OS 8 is one of the biggest OS advances Apple has made in the last few years, probably since 1984!
About the only negative thing I can say about Mac OS 8 is the lack of 68000-68030 processor support, you MUST have a 68040 or PowerPC processor to run Mac OS 8. So, if you're still a 68000-68030 owner, please enjoy the rest of this issue of MacNow Magazine, if you own a 68040-PowerPC enjoy the rest of my review...
Installation
Installation was a pretty straight forward and simplified with the new installer, the installer moves the old system folder and renames it "Previous System Folder" and then completes the install. Once installation is complete two new features of Mac OS 8 appear, the "Mac OS Setup Assistant" and then the "Internet Setup Assistant" that automatically launch and ask for various configuration preferences for both the OS and all your Internet, Intranet and/or Network configurations.
New Look & Features
Mac OS 8 sports a new "Platinum" look system wide, new higher-end video, sound, graphics and QuickTime VR as well as advanced QuickDraw 3D support. You can now play full-motion, full-screen MPEG movies with no additional hardware/software. Mac OS 8's new multitasking Finder is a sight for sore eyes and a lot faster than all other Mac OS's, plus you can now copy / move multiple items at the same time, this is a first for the Mac OS.
Finally...STABILITY
There are several new features in Mac OS 8 including STABILITY (this is by far the most stable Mac OS I've seen from Apple), Contextual Menus, Spring Loaded Folders (This feature alone is worth the price of the new OS!), and many more "hidden features" such as what I call "Click and a half", if you click twice but hold down on the second click, a magnifying glass will appear that allows you to search through multiple folders to help locate files and programs (You must be in the finder on the Desktop for this feature). Java is now built into Mac OS 8 with the inclusion of Mac OS Runtime for Java 1.0.1, this means you can run Java programs just as you do Mac OS programs.
Crayon Color Picker
Another new and cool feature is Apple's color pickers, the neat one is the Crayon color picker which looks like a box of crayons, and the most useful in my opinion is the HTML color picker which gives you the hexadecimal equivalents to the color your picking as well as CMYK, RGB, HSV and HLS color pickers. Then there is the new Apple Menu Item called "Connect To..." this little app allows you to connect to any URL (Web address) at anytime from your desktop. While we are on the Apple Menu I should also mention that some of Mac OS 8's Control Panels are now combined or integrated into the OS. The Sound Control Panel and Monitors Control Panel are now one Control Panel called "Monitors & Sound", the Control Panel Window Shade is no longer needed since it is now built into the Mac OS, there is a new little box on each and every window that allows you to close the window up to its Title Bar with a single click, this feature takes a little getting used to, but it is a blessing.
Internet-Intranet Features
Being a professional web designer I saved my favorite for last....
Internet - Intranet built right into Mac OS 8! Personal Web Sharing allows delivery of your own web site from your own hard drive over the Internet or a TCP/IP based network, allowing built-in Intranet for small and large business alike. I use it when I am designing a clients site to show the client requested on-the-fly revisions, in real-time. VERY COOL Apple, Kudos to the development team, keep it up.
Apple was very Internet aware in this OS release. Mac OS 8 includes several Internet applications, such as Netscape Navigator, CyberDog, Microsoft Internet Explorer, PointCast Network and AOL software, ClarisEm@iler Lite 1.1, and OpenTransport 1.2. with TCP/IP 1.1.1. Here is another stable part of the new Mac OS 8, OpenTransport 1.2 with TCP/IP 1.1.1 is a vast improvement over the other OpenTransport and TCP/IP releases.
I do not have the space in this review to go over all of Mac OS 8's new improvements and features, but I will say this: Mac OS 8 is faster, can do more and even stopped my Performa 6300CD AREP from crashing AS much as it used to, it is much more stable than all of its predecessors and is a vast improvement to the Mac OS.
In a Nutshell
I have to say that Mac OS 8 IS the 1997 Software Product of the Year, and the year is not yet over! If you own an 040 or PowerPC Macintosh computer get a copy yesterday and understand what I am talking about! There are parts of Mac OS 8 that I wonder what I did without, and now won't live without. Mac OS 8 is the premier software product of the year, and Apple should take a bow. But Apple should also understand that with the release of Mac OS 8 we as consumers will expect them to keep up the good work and go forward to delivering even more advanced features and incorporating some of Copland's promised features such as Pre-emptive Multitasking and Memory Protection
*out of five
Copyright ©1997 WilliamLH All Rights Reserved.
Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission is prohibited. WilliamLH's reviews can be viewed at WilliamLH's Reviews and is the creator of The Mac Trading Post (tm).
