apple x-terminates another os 23 of july, 1998 by johnmichael patrick monty monteith

Here we go again. Another year, another course change in Cupertino. Yes, boys and girls, now Rhapsody joins Copland in the great Macintosh operating system dump heap of promises never kept. Apple has declared the next great Macintosh operating system will be OS X, and not Rhapsody (the "great hope" for the past year and a half). And one has to wonder if the reason Apple switched courses again was because they could not deliver, or because they really found a better way. Whatever the reason, much like Linus waiting for the Great Pumpkin, Mac owners everywhere like you and me continue to believe the next great Macintosh operating system is coming.

As many of you are aware, Apple has been promising a Windows-destroyer operating system since 1992 with what was then called "Copland" and later named "OS 8" (which is not to be confused with the current OS 8 that has nearly nothing in common with the promised original OS 8 - confused yet?) Despite all of the Macintosh advantages, there are numerous things that Windows has had since the release of Windows 95 that Apple still has yet to deliver and Apple has been promising for nearly a decade (warning, geek term alert): true pre-emptive multitasking, multithreading, multiprocessing, virtual memory, and last (but not at all least) protected memory. I can not tell you the amount of money I and many other Mac owners would have spent to have our current Mac OS do even half of these items, but it would have been a pretty penny. Over the years, the message has remained constant.

'You will have these great things.'
'Oh yes.'
'You will.'
'Trust me.'
'Next year.'

The first promise was Copland. Originally slated to ship in 1994, and then 1995, and then 1996, and then cancelled, it promised the world and never saw the light of day. Apple realized that they could never get it to work. Essentially this product was going to be the System 7 upgraded with the big geeky terms I described earlier. But as time went on, it became increasingly clear the product was never going to fly.

Amelio, then the new commander and chief at Apple Computer, saw the mess then called OS 8, System 8, or Copland. Then, he pulled the plug. Declared Copland dead. And thus went our dreams for a Windows-beating operating system.

'But not so quick', the great Amelio told us. (Like every other Apple commander and chief told us.) Now we are looking for an even better operating system to replace the Mac OS.

Rumors flew around about Apple buying the "Be OS", with it's preemptive multitasking and protected memory. Macintosh users were again happy, and we were all saying "Be" would "Be" the next "Be"g hope.

Well, then Amelio pulled the plug on that one, and bought NeXT Step instead. NeXT was another operating system that was already available for Intel machines with, once again, all the geeky terms described earlier. Yes, those lucky bastards over in the Intel camp could buy the geeky-term NeXT Step or the geeky-term Windows, or even the geeky-term OS/2 if they wanted. But, now we found our rainbow. The pot of gold was just around the corner, because Rhapsody was on the way. Rhapsody would be the merger of Mac and NeXT producing the greatest Windows Killer application ever dreamed of. This application would be so killer, and we would be so proud, that we would sell it for both the Macintosh and for Windows owners. Now THAT is a killer app. Don't you think?

Doubt how wonderful this program would be? Check out the hype for yourself:

What's next for the Mac OS? (March 1997)

What the New OS Strategy Means to You (April 1997)

"Users will get their first taste of Rhapsody in January 1998", they said. "In mid-1998, Apple hopes to have the full Rhapsody available, including the compatibility environment", was the word in the press. This baby was a sure-thing. Copland was dead, but long live Rhapsody. Hail Rhapsody! Hail Jobs! Hail Apple!

Only one problem with this scenario. History. More specifically, Apple history. See, no matter how much we want something to happen, just because we want it, does not make it happen. And, just because we wanted Copland, does not mean we were going to get it. Just because we wanted "Be OS", does not mean we were going to get it. Just because we want Rhapsody - well, you get the picture, don't you?

You guessed it. Rhapsody is no more. History. Dead. Game over, man. Stick a fork in it. And one is forced to wonder if the reason Apple killed Rhapsody was simply because they could not live up to the timelines they set? Or is it merely coincidence that right when the full version of Rhapsody was supposed to be shipping that they promise a new better operating system? Seems unlikely. At the very least, Apple's well known history of delaying and not delivering was a large part of the decision to change their OS course.

But, in true Apple tradition, Jobs has not left us without some sugar plums to dance in our dreams at night. Instead of the promised Rhapsody which should be running on your Macintosh G3 system right now, we are giving you more exciting promises. This year's promise? OS X. What is it? Well, essentially this great new visionary operating system is a combination of Copland and Rhapsody. What's different? Not much. Take the parts of Copland you like, and add the parts of Rhapsody you like, and what you get is OS X.

What makes me believe this one has any better chance of seeing the light of day than it's predecessors? Blind faith, of course. It seems that regardless of how many times Apple can fool us, no matter how many times Apple can promise us the same dream and not deliver, we still continue to believe the company. Ask any long-term Apple supporter. They believed Copland would be delivered. They believed Rhapsody would be on their computer today. But neither happened.

And if you ask the vast majority of Macintosh fans today, including myself, we will tell you that OS X is coming. Not only that, but we will be the first in line to buy it, too. Why? Maybe it is the Steve Jobs reality distortion field. Maybe it is that we have all been brainwashed from reading thousands of MacWay digests. Or perhaps we are just a gullible lot.

Whatever the reason .. we wait. And wait. And we believe. And wait. And reset our crashed Macs. Oh yes. We believe. OS X is coming. And I will wait in the pumpkin patch until the end of time. I will not stop believing. I will wait until the Great Jobs shows up to deliver operating systems to all the good little Mac boys and Mac girls!

Death to Copland!
Death to Rhapsody!
Death to Windows!!
Long live OS X!
Oh yes!
I BELIEVE!