View source for Mac OS X Public Beta

{{Short description|First publicly available version of Mac OS}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2013}}
{{Infobox OS version
| name = Mac OS X Public Beta
| logo = MacOS10.0PB.png
| logo size = 64px
| screenshot = macosxpb.png
| developer = [[Apple Inc.|Apple Computer]]
| family = {{flat list|
* [[Macintosh operating systems|Macintosh]]
* [[Unix-like]] ([[Darwin (operating system)|Darwin/BSD]])
}}
| first_release_date = September 13, 2000
| first_release_url = https://www.apple.com/pr/library/2000/sep/13macosx.html
| version of = [[macOS]]
| source_model =
| supported platforms = [[PowerPC]]
| kernel_type = [[Hybrid kernel|Hybrid]] ([[XNU]])
| ui = [[Aqua (user interface)|Aqua]]
| preceded_by = [[Mac OS 9]]<br>
[[Mac OS X Server 1.0]]
| succeeded_by = [[Mac OS X 10.0|Mac OS X 10.0 Cheetah]]
| support_status = Historic, unsupported as of March 24, 2001.       Expired on May 14, 2001.
| license =
| working_state = Historic, not supported
| website = {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20001109010200/https://www.apple.com:80/macosx/ |date=November 9, 2000 |title=Apple - Mac OS X}}
| date = January 2009 <!-- approximate date of template insertion for dating hidden maintenance categories -->
}}
{{macOS topics}}

'''Mac OS X Public Beta''' (internally [[code name]]d '''"Kodiak"''') was the first publicly available version of [[Apple Inc.|Apple Computer]]'s [[macOS|Mac OS X (now named macOS)]] [[operating system]] to feature the [[Aqua (user interface)|Aqua user interface]]. It was released to the public on September 13, 2000, for US$ 29.95. Its release was significant as the first publicly available evidence of Apple's ability to ship the "next-generation Mac operating system" after the [[Copland (operating system)|Copland]] failure. It allowed [[software developer]]s and [[Diffusion (business)|early adopters]] to test a preview of the upcoming operating system and develop software for it before its final release. It is the only public version of [[macOS|Mac OS X]] to have a code name not based on a big cat until the release of [[OS X Mavericks|10.9 Mavericks]] in 2013. The US version had a build number of 1H39 and the international version had build number 2E14.<ref name="1H39">{{cite web |author=Marcin Wichary |url=https://www.guidebookgallery.org/screenshots/macosxpb |title=GUIdebook > Screenshots > Mac OS X Public Beta |publisher=Guidebookgallery.org |access-date=June 21, 2011 |archive-date=December 19, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161219073905/https://www.guidebookgallery.org/screenshots/macosxpb |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Successor OS==
The Public Beta succeeded [[Mac OS X Server 1.0]], the first public release of Apple's new [[NeXT]] [[OPENSTEP]]-based operating system, which used a variant of the [[classic Mac OS]]'s "Platinum" user interface look and feel. The Public Beta introduced the [[Aqua (user interface)|Aqua user interface]] to the world. Fundamental user interface changes were revealed with respect to fonts, the [[Dock (macOS)|Dock]], the [[Menu (computing)|menu]] bar (with an Apple logo at the center that was later repositioned to the left of the menu bar and made an [[Apple menu|active interface element]]).<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://archive.arstechnica.com/reviews/01q1/macwldsf/mwsf-5.html|title=MacWorld Expo San Francisco 2001 - Page 5 - (01/2001)|access-date=April 17, 2014|archive-date=July 2, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140702145743/http://archive.arstechnica.com/reviews/01q1/macwldsf/mwsf-5.html|url-status=live}}</ref> System [[Icon (computing)|icon]]s were much larger and more detailed, and new interface eye candy was prevalent.

==Technical changes==
The beta's arrival marked some fundamental technical changes, most courtesy of an [[open-source software|open source]] [[Darwin (operating system)|Darwin]] 1.2.1 core, including two features that Mac users and developers had been anticipating for almost a decade: [[preemptive multitasking]] and [[protected memory]]. To illustrate the benefits of the latter, at the [[MacWorld Expo]] in June 2000, Apple [[Chief executive officer|CEO]] [[Steve Jobs]] demonstrated ''Bomb.app'', a test application intended to crash.<ref name="crashdemo">{{cite web |url=http://www.macobserver.com/news/00/july/000719/keynotelive.shtml |title=MACWORLD Expo - Live Coverage Of Steve Jobs Keynote |publisher=The Mac Observer |access-date=June 21, 2011 |archive-date=July 18, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718191703/http://www.macobserver.com/news/00/july/000719/keynotelive.shtml |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Native software==
The Public Beta included many of the standard programs bundled with macOS for decades to come, such as [[TextEdit]], [[Preview.app|Preview]], [[Mail.app|Mail]], [[QuickTime Player]] and  [[Terminal.app|Terminal]]. Also included with the Public Beta, but not in any subsequent versions of Mac OS X, were a simple MP3 player ([[iTunes]] had not yet been introduced), Sketch, a basic vector drawing program demonstrating features of [[Quartz (graphics layer)|Quartz]], and HTMLEdit, a [[WYSIWYG]] HTML editor inherited from [[WebObjects]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.macworld.com/article/1154037/osxbeta_whatschanged.html|title=OS X then and now: What's changed since the beta|first=Benj|last=Edwards|work=Macworld|date=September 13, 2010|access-date=September 19, 2012|archive-date=November 1, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121101021344/http://www.macworld.com/article/1154037/osxbeta_whatschanged.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Native [[shrinkware]] applications were few and far between.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.osxbook.com/book/bonus/ancient/whatismacosx/software.html|title=What is Mac OS X?|first=Amit|last=Singh|date=December 2003|quote=One relatively common notion about Mac OS X seems to be that there's not a lot of software for it. While it is true that the quantity of software available for Mac OS X is not as large as, say, that on Windows or Linux...|access-date=September 26, 2012|archive-date=May 14, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120514133000/http://osxbook.com/book/bonus/ancient/whatismacosx/software.html|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://lowendmac.com/deals/best-mac-os-x-prices.html|title=Best Mac OS X 10.0, 10.1, 10.2, and 10.3 Prices|access-date=September 26, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121015201044/http://lowendmac.com/deals/best-mac-os-x-prices.html|archive-date=October 15, 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://archive.arstechnica.com/reviews/01q2/macos-x-final/macos-x-17.html|title=Mac OS X 10.0|page=17|first=John|last=Siracusa|date=April 2001|work=[[Ars Technica]]|access-date=September 26, 2012|archive-date=August 17, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160817083727/http://archive.arstechnica.com/reviews/01q2/macos-x-final/macos-x-17.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.cnet.com/Macs-new-OS-Seven-years-in-the-making/2009-1040_3-254470.html |title=Mac's new OS: Seven years in the making |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101108093106/http://news.cnet.com/Macs-new-OS-Seven-years-in-the-making/2009-1040_3-254470.html |archive-date=November 8, 2010 |date=March 21, 2001 |publisher=[[CNET]] |quote=The first applications will appear this spring; many more are targeted for later months. |url-status=dead }}</ref> [[Early adopters]] had to turn to [[open-source software|open source]] or [[shareware]] alternatives, giving rise to an active homebrew software community around the new operating system. Many programs in use on early Mac OS X systems were inherited from [[OPENSTEP]] or [[Rhapsody (operating system)|Rhapsody]] developer releases (e.g. [[OmniWeb]] or Fire), or were simple [[wrapper library|wrapper]] apps that provided a graphical interface to a command-line Unix program.

The poor state of the [[Carbon (API)|Carbon]] API contrasted with the relative maturity of [[Cocoa (API)|Cocoa]] gave rise to an anti-Carbon bias among Mac OS X users.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cocoabuilder.com/archive/cocoa/52219-carbon-vs-cocoa-arguments.html|title=Carbon vs Cocoa arguments|access-date=September 21, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130511223012/http://www.cocoabuilder.com/archive/cocoa/52219-carbon-vs-cocoa-arguments.html|archive-date=May 11, 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://archive.arstechnica.com/reviews/01q2/macos-x-final/macos-x-16.html|title=Mac OS X 10.0|page=16|first=John|last=Siracusa|date=April 2001|work=Ars Technica|quote=The general consensus is that Cocoa applications are superior to Carbon applications in terms of support for OS X features, multitasking ability, and interface responsiveness. Whether this is due to any inherent superiority of the technologies in Cocoa or is merely a byproduct of the immaturity of the Carbon implementation (as compared to Cocoa/OpenStep, which has been around for years) is still open for debate|access-date=September 26, 2012|archive-date=January 7, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130107001634/http://archive.arstechnica.com/reviews/01q2/macos-x-final/macos-x-16.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Expiration==
The Mac OS X Public Beta expired on May 14, 2001; approximately two months after the release of [[Mac OS X 10.0]], the completed version of the operating system released in March 2001.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/Mac_OS_X_Public_Beta_Expires_Today|title=Mac OS X Public Beta Expires Today|access-date=March 4, 2015|archive-date=January 15, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150115011114/http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/Mac_OS_X_Public_Beta_Expires_Today|url-status=live}}</ref> As a result, it will not run on later [[PowerPC]]-based Macintosh computers released after early 2001, nor on current Macintosh hardware, which uses the [[x86]] or [[ARM64]] processor architectures. Using the Mac OS X Public Beta on compatible equipment today requires setting the hardware clock to a date prior to the expiration date.

The expiration date forced users to purchase a copy of the final release rather than continuing to use the Public Beta, as well as reassured industry observers skeptical after the Copland and Rhapsody failures that Apple would actually release a next-generation operating system this time. Owners of the Public Beta version were entitled to a $30 discount on the price of the first full version of Mac OS X 10.0.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.macworld.com/article/154036/2010/09/osxorigins.html|title=Looking back at OS X's origins|date=September 13, 2010|first=Benj|last=Edwards|work=[[Macworld]]|access-date=September 29, 2011|archive-date=November 18, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121118024028/http://www.macworld.com/article/1154036/osxorigins.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Only the Aqua GUI and related components of the Public Beta were subject to expiry; the underlying Darwin command-line based OS continued to function.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.giac.org/paper/gcfa/19/analysis-unknown-mac-os-public-beta-system-mac-os-102/102125|title=Analysis unknown Mac OS Public Beta system|access-date=September 12, 2014|archive-date=September 12, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140912205559/http://www.giac.org/paper/gcfa/19/analysis-unknown-mac-os-public-beta-system-mac-os-102/102125|url-status=live}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{macOS}}
{{Darwin derivations}}
{{Apple Inc. operating systems}}
{{Apple Inc.}}

[[Category:2000 software]]
[[Category:MacOS]]
[[Category:PowerPC operating systems]]