[SCC_Active_Members] History of Apple OSs

[Al Kossow]

> The original 140 page history is available as
> a free pdf from a link at the bottom of:
> 
> http://osxbook.com/book/bonus/chapter1/
> 

I don't think I ever had any direct contact with the author, though I think
he arrived at Apple in the late 90's. First thing I noticed is the picture
of the Apple I board and the screen shot of Neptune running on an Alto are
images I created. One sentence on NuKernel, which was a project I had some
peripheral involvement with for about 10 years is disappointing.

While the techies at Apple knew the OS had to be replaced since the mid
80's, it was impossible to build momentum and get the right resources to do
it until well into the PowerPC era, when Microsoft's products and the
erosion of the Mac market put upper management into panic mode.

His comment that Apple's switch to x86 as a vindication of the "Star Trek"
project is revisionist history. The need to switch was the fault of Moto and
IBM being unwilling to develop anything Apple could sell in the portable
space, and IBM's disinterest in Apple in the high end desktop space.