July 22, 1997: OS 8 Rolls Out

Mac OS 8 was interesting for more than OS advances. It was interesting because the OS was supposed to be the first apperance of the all new operating system Copland but even more interesting because it effectively voided most of the contracts the clone makers had with Apple.

To users the new Mac OS offered several things: better performance when using virtual memory, longer file names, a new appearance called platinum, a multi-threaded Finder and OS 8 was the last release that supported the 680x0 processor. In the irony department, OS 8 also featured Simple Finder, an option to make the OS more accessible to new users.

The OS the was once promised to be "all new" but mainly featured a way for Apple to break the deals with clone makers and a few must have updates was rolled out in full Apple style on July 22, 1997.