Q: What has Apple announced regarding the evolution of the Mac OS?
A: Apple plans to deliver two operating systems for the next several years. First will be the Mac OS, which we will continue to upgrade and improve to support the current Macintosh customers worldwide, approximately 60 million users. Second will be a new OS based on NeXT Software's operating system technologies, NEXTSTEP and OPENSTEP. The powerful and advanced NeXT technologies are years ahead of competitive offerings, and will provide the foundation for a new OS, code-named Rhapsody. In addition to leveraging the NeXT technologies, Rhapsody is designed to run Mac applications through a Mac OS compatibility environment.
Q. When will Rhapsody ship?
A: Apple plans a first release for developers in 1997; a release for early adopters within 12 months that will offer the new application environment and some degree of backward compatibility; and a unified release, that will include extensive Mac OS application compatibility in mid-1998.
Q: Which Mac systems will be supported by Rhapsody?
A: Apple's goal is for Rhapsody to support all PowerPC-processor based Macintosh hardware sold by Apple and Apple licensees today, and all upcoming products including the PowerPC Platform, also known as CHRP. Apple is investigating the work required to support older systems as well.
Q: Will existing 680x0 and PowerPC applications run on Rhapsody?
A: Yes. Rhapsody is designed to support a native version of the Mac OS, hosted on a modern microkernel. We are not simply building an "emulator" for backward compatibility--it is the same source code as the Mac OS. We expect very good compatibility for applications, utilities, fonts, extensions, and software components. Compatibility with networks, printers, monitors, and cards is expected to be very good for products that have the appropriate new drivers. This preserves the enormous investment in files and applications made by Mac users and developers. This capability will be offered via the Mac OS compatibility environment.
Q: What will Apple name today's Mac OS and Rhapsody?
A: Today's OS remains the Mac OS. The new OS will be formally named later; meanwhile, the code name is Rhapsody.
Q: How will Rhapsody look and feel? Will it be like the Mac OS Finder or NeXT's Workspace?
A: Rhapsody's user interface will combine elements from both the Mac OS and NEXTSTEP, but will be closer in look and feel to the Mac OS Finder. We realize that customers need a consistent interface in the two operating systems to deploy them throughout a single organization. It's important for training and ease of use. One of the advantages of NeXT's technology is the easy support of multiple user interface paradigms.
Q: Which microkernel will Rhapsody support?
A: Apple will be using a modern microkernel as the foundation of Rhapsody, designed to provide preemptive multitasking, protected memory, and other modern operating system capabilities. Apple will provide more specifics on kernel capabilities in early 1997.
Q: Will the QuickTime Media Layer (QTML) technologies be ported?
A: Yes. QTML technologies will be ported to Rhapsody as they are on other platforms today.
Q: Will OpenDoc be supported in Rhapsody? How about Java?
A: OpenDoc and Java will continue to be improved for Mac OS releases. Both are important elements of the Rhapsody technology road map, and we expect OpenDoc components to be delivered along with our Java integration efforts.
Q: Will Rhapsody support Display PostScript, QuickDraw GX, or some hybrid?
A: Apple intends to adopt the PostScript imaging model for Rhapsody and migrate the best of our existing graphic technologies to that model, including ColorSync and GX typography. This will provide front-to-back PostScript support for publishing developers and customers. Technical details of QuickDraw and QuickDraw GX integration are still under investigation.
Q: Do developers need to learn Objective C to create applications for Rhapsody? Will Apple's technology APIs be rewritten in Objective C?
A: We intend to allow developers to use the programming languages of their choice for new application development in Rhapsody. Objective C is the native language and will offer some advantages over other languages, but with partners like Metrowerks we expect to offer Java, C, C++, and Pascal as viable languages. Over time, we expect a greater focus on Java as a development platform.
Q. What markets will Rhapsody target?
A: Rhapsody will be aimed at all of Apple's market segments. At the outset, we expect that customers in publishing, enterprise, higher education, multimedia, and scientific and technical environments will enjoy its benefits. Over time we expect consumers and K-12 customers to adopt it as well.
Q. How long will Apple continue to enhance Mac OS releases?
A: Apple plans to continue to advance the Mac OS until our customers transition to Rhapsody. We expect that this transition will take several years.
Q: What advantages will Rhapsody have over competing offerings?
A: The combination of Apple's and NeXT's strengths will result, we believe, in an OS that meets or exceeds competing operating systems in every feature category important to existing Macintosh customers and developers. In addition, we expect that the new OS will strengthen Apple's position in the Web authoring and enterprise markets.
Today's Mac OS is the clear leader in ease of use, plug and play operation, graphics and publishing, and multimedia, and has many advantages in Internet technologies, component technologies, and support for high-performance PowerPC microprocessor technology.
NeXT technologies complement these strengths with outstanding capabilities in system reliability and robustness, full preemption and protection, file system, I/O, networking, Internet services, internationalization, and additional strengths in user interface design. Moreover, NeXT technologies offer a complete and robust application toolbox to create outstanding, innovative applications, plus an application development environment years ahead of competitive offerings.
Copyright 1997 Apple Computer, Inc.
Maintained online by pesta@apple.com
Updated Tuesday, January 7, 1997 by Marilyn Pesta