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Text File  |  1996-08-03  |  7KB  |  109 lines
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  8.                                                                             Originally set for release mid-1996 Mac OS 8, code-named Copland 
  9.                                                                             has had a number of set backs and now isn‚Äôt due until mid-1997, at                 
  10.                                                                             least. Mac OS 8 is designed to improve the performance of current 
  11.                                                                             Macintosh applications, and will drive a new generation of 
  12.                                                                             multimedia and productivity applications. Mac OS 8 will be
  13.                                                                             optimized to take advantage of the power of PowerPC RISC 
  14.                                                                             processors, incorporate advanced multitasking capabilities, and 
  15.                                                                             integrate memory protection capabilities to improve the stability of     
  16.                                                                             the computing environment, something which is long overdue‚Ķ
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  21.                                                                             In terms of performance Mac OS 8 will gain significantly by being 
  22.                                                                             almost entirely written in native code for PowerPC processors. In 
  23.                                                                             addition the new technologies in Mac OS 8 include improved 
  24.                                                                             algorithms that run more efficiently. To get the increased 
  25.                                                                             performance, however, applications must make use of these new 
  26.                                                                             technologies. At the present time Mac OS 8 will require a PowerPC 
  27.                                                                             processor to run although there are rumours that Apple are
  28.                                                                             working on a 68K version for release at a later date.
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  32.                                                                             Unlike previous versions of the Mac OS, Copland will let users 
  33.                                                                             choose from a variety of desktop styles that affect the look and 
  34.                                                                             feel, and in some cases even the sound of the Mac's user interface. 
  35.                                                                             Styles include the standard 3D look, a kids type style with animated 
  36.                                                                             flip-down menus accompanied by amusing sounds, an At Ease style 
  37.                                                                             with one-click buttons and a hi-tech look. In addition, all windows in 
  38.                                                                             Copland will contain a small icon to the left of the window's name in 
  39.                                                                             the title bar. Users can directly manipulate the item the window 
  40.                                                                             represents by dragging the item's title-bar icon to a destination 
  41.                                                                             elsewhere on the screen. If the destination is on the same storage 
  42.                                                                             device as the item, this action moves the item; if it is on a different 
  43.                                                                             storage device, this action copies the item. The Copland user 
  44.                                                                             experience includes several new interface elements to make it 
  45.                                                                             easier for users to manipulate items directly. In addition to the 
  46.                                                                             title-bar icon, mentioned earlier, Copland adds the spring-loaded 
  47.                                                                             folder, which causes a folder to open when an item is dragged over 
  48.                                                                             it. By dragging an item over successive folder icons, a user can
  49.                                                                             drop the item into a deeply embedded folder with one movement. 
  50.                                                                             When the user finally drops the item into a window, all of the 
  51.                                                                             intermediate windows opened during the extended drag operation 
  52.                                                                             close automatically, thus reducing screen clutter. Another interface 
  53.                                                                             element is called the pop-up window; it allows windows to remain 
  54.                                                                             open without cluttering up the desktop. Under Copland, users can 
  55.                                                                             drag a window to the bottom of the screen, where its title bar is 
  56.                                                                             shortened to allow multiple title bars to show. When the user drags 
  57.                                                                             an item onto a shortened title bar, the full window displays itself, 
  58.                                                                             and the user can drop the item into the window. When the user 
  59.                                                                             activates another window, the pop-up window minimizes itself
  60.                                                                             again at the bottom of the screen. 
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  64.                                                                             At Copland's core lies the microkernel, the behind-the-scenes 
  65.                                                                             arbitrator of the complex machinations that make Copland such a 
  66.                                                                             significant advance over System 7.5. The microkernel will be 
  67.                                                                             responsible for managing memory (including virtual memory), 
  68.                                                                             allocating CPU time to all software, applications running in the 
  69.                                                                             compatibility box, preemptively multitasked server tasks, and the 
  70.                                                                             OS itself, and several other low-level activities, such as 
  71.                                                                             interprocess communication. As its name suggests, the microkernel 
  72.                                                                             is only a tiny bit of Copland's code, but its performance and 
  73.                                                                             reliability will be critical to Copland's success and considering the 
  74.                                                                             resources that Apple has dedicated to perfecting it, we consider the 
  75.                                                                             probability of that success to be good. Copland will have a vastly 
  76.                                                                             improved virtual-memory system, resulting in better performance 
  77.                                                                             of the code-fragment manager, the part of the OS that's responsible 
  78.                                                                             for loading into memory only those parts of an application that are 
  79.                                                                             actually needed at any given moment. Applications will load faster 
  80.                                                                             and require less RAM. Applications will also be able to spin off 
  81.                                                                             multiple server tasks into their own protected memory spaces. 
  82.                                                                             There they will be able to run unattended in the background, safe 
  83.                                                                             from most system crashes. However, only those processes that do     
  84.                                                                             not require user-interface activity will be able to become server                         
  85.                                                                             tasks.
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  89.                                                                             In the current Mac OS, applications compete for CPU resources, 
  90.                                                                             with the result that some hog processing power while others starve. 
  91.                                                                             Copland will reduce this anarchy by using a technique called 
  92.                                                                             pre-emptive multitasking, in which the OS takes over resource 
  93.                                                                             scheduling, but only for server tasks and some OS functions. The 
  94.                                                                             result will be faster, more responsive performance of file and 
  95.                                                                             network I/O and greatly improved background-task performance.
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  99.                                                                             Even though Copland is fundamentally different from the current Mac 
  100.                                                                             OS, current applications will run without modification in what Apple 
  101.                                                                             engineers call the compatibility box. One important benefit: If an 
  102.                                                                             application crashes, only the compatibility box will need to be 
  103.                                                                             rebooted - most core system functions, extensions, and server 
  104.                                                                             tasks should remain unaffected, resulting in a greatly reduced 
  105.                                                                             rebooting time.
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