July 22, 1997: Apple launches Mac OS 8, its next-gen operating system for Macintosh computers. The OS introduces a new three-dimensional look and makes surfing the internet easier than ever.
The first major operating system refresh for Macs since System 7’s release in 1991, it gets great reviews and is destined to become a big hit with users. However, it arrives at a very challenging time for Apple.
Mac OS 8 launch
Although everyone associates Steve Jobs’ reign at Apple with OS X, Mac OS 8 was actually the first new operating system to launch after his return to the company in 1997. Jobs had very little to do with Mac OS 8, though, since his predecessor, Gil Amelio, had only stepped down as Apple CEO a couple of weeks prior to the operating system’s release.
Mac OS 8 built on the work that went into Apple’s doomed Project Copland, which the company announced in March 1994. Cupertino positioned Copland as a total rewrite of Mac OS to accompany the introduction of the first PowerPC Macs.
Project Copland adds to Mac OS 8
However, the software’s developers continually missed deadlines. Eventually, Apple folded Project Copland into “System 8,” which became known as Mac OS 8. The new operating system allowed greater levels of user customization for features like system fonts, accent colors and photo desktop backgrounds.
Apple’s other improvements included new pop-up context menus, spring-loaded folders, live scrolling, a built-in web browser, and a multitasking Finder upgrade. If you’re considering investing in an Apple device, you might be wondering how long do Macs last compared to previous models.
Sneaky name, big hit
Photo: ShrineofApple
The newly modernized operating system became a big commercial success.
Retailing for $99, Mac OS 8 came at a very important time for the money-losing Apple. Sales exceeded expectations by a factor of four, with 1.2 million copies sold in the first two weeks of availability. This made Mac OS 8 the most successful Apple software product at the time.
Interestingly, the most fascinating aspect of Mac OS 8 had very little to do with the software itself.
As Keith Bosse, a financial analyst with Robert Cohen & Company, said at the time: “Mac OS 8 is not the real story…. This is not a technology problem. The product itself is not the issue. [Apple has] a sales and marketing problem. It’s a brand mismanagement problem. The brand is being so underutilized at this stage.”
Mac OS 8 name counters the clone Macs
One of the big problems Apple faced at the time was the presence of clone Macs after many people pushed for making Mac OS run on other computers in the early 1990s. Microsoft successfully employed such a strategy with Windows. However, it worked less well for Apple.
Apple CFO Fred Anderson worked out that the clone Mac strategy actually cost Cupertino money. The $50 fee Apple got for every clone Mac sold didn’t come close to recouping the money lost from people choosing to buy third-party computers instead of the pricier ones made by Cupertino.
Part of the reason for calling Apple’s operating system upgrade “Mac OS 8” instead of “System 7.7” was that the agreement with Mac clone-makers only extended to cover System 7 updates. By naming the update “Mac OS 8,” Apple could negotiate new terms with third parties licensing the Apple operating system.
Do you remember the Mac OS 8 launch? Leave your comments and recollections below.
Luke Dormehl is a U.K.-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Apple Revolution and The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems … and Create More, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme and other publications.
5 responses to “Today in Apple history: Mac OS 8 becomes an instant smash hit”
For the most part, the late nineties was a shitty time to be a Mac user… but for me I loved it and I loved Mac OS 8.
I’ve always had a massive weakness for Apple in the 1990s. Was it a good time to be an investor? Probably not. Was it a good time to be a fan thinking it would last forever? Not really. But there was some great stuff there if you looked — and it was head-and-shoulders above what most tech companies were coming out with.
I’m with you… That time was oddly special to be a Mac user. MacAddict Magazine with their CD of Share/Freeware. Guy Kawasaki pushing for the Mac. The PowerPC commercials. PowerComputing clones. Stretching the truth on the info card to get a free subscription to MacWeek. That’s it I’m going home and firing up my PowerCenter Tower when I get home and play Marathon into the wee hours of the night. :)
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Mac OS 8 was almost coincident with my re-introduction to Macs after not using them since being at uni in the late 80s/early 90s with the uni I went to having a lab of Macs – which were always struggling to avoid viruses as I recall (students had to put any floppy disks into a sheep dip machine at the door before being allowed to use them in the lab).
I started work at a university at the start of 97 which had hundreds of Macs running OS 7 and I had rapidly had to upskill to know how to diagnose Mac issues and fix them. OS 8 was a breath of fresh air in comparison.
I had fun skinning it to look and feel just like Windows 95 while skinning a Windows 95 PC to look and feel just like Mac OS 8 (StarDock as I recall…but it’s a long time ago. I created a lot of my own skins for both whatever the tools were).
Happy days for me – a new job with great people and the intellectual challenge of becoming expert on a new OS, running a Mac web server and file server as well as a number of Netware 4 servers etc…before I shifted into management and slowly moved away from the hands on technical side.