MAC OS is the Macintosh operating system by Apple Computers. Mac OS X, the current release the MAC operating system, is comprised of six major components: System applications, the Aqua user interface, a suite of application frameworks, graphics systems, system management services and the Darwin foundation.
System Applications: Mac OS X includes lots of useful applications such as iMovie, iPhoto and iTunes to manage your cameras, iPod and downloaded music. iChat AV, Safari, Mail, QuickTime and Sherlock offer you the best Internet experience. iSync, iCal and Address Book help you stay in contact. Panther includes applications for managing fonts, viewing PDFs and DVDs, editing text, performing calculations, managing printers, connecting to the Internet, changing system preferences and many more utilities for setting up your Mac.
User Interface: As a tradition of Mac operating systems, Mac OS X features an intuitive user interface. Apple leads the industry with GUI advances such as Exposé, which makes it a snap to navigate between dozens of open windows. In addition, Mac OS X delivers section 508 accessibility compliance, and offers handwriting recognition and fast user switching.
Application Frameworks: The application frameworks of Mac OS X is built on top of the traditional UNIX APIs. Developers can create Aqua user interfaces for Cocoa, Carbon, AppleScript and Java applications with the included XCode development environment. Cocoa is a set of object-oriented frameworks designed for rapid application development, making it easy to add rich Aqua interfaces to existing UNIX software or to create entirely new applications. Carbon provides a gentle migration path for developers who have moved their applications from Mac OS 9 to Mac OS X. AppleScript lets you create your own applications that automate application commands, information retrieval and repetitive tasks. Java 2 Standard Edition v.1.4.1 on Mac OS X is fully-compliant, highly-optimized, and tightly integrated with the native look-and-feel.
Graphics and Media:The Mac OS X graphics system combines 2D, 3D, and time-based media standards. The Quartz 2D high-performance graphics rendering library is the primary imaging model for Mac OS X. OpenGL is the industry standard for visualizing 3D shapes and textures. OpenGL enables high-end 3D graphics on Mac OS X. QuickTime provides an environment for creating, playing and delivering video, audio and images. Mac OS X Core Audio integrates audio functions directly into the operating system.
System Management: Mac OS X includes modern networking and support for standard protocols. This makes Mac OS X easy to integrate into any standards-based network, including existing Macintosh networks, Windows networks, and of course the Internet..
OS Foundation: Beneath the easy-to-use interface and rich graphics of Mac OS X is Darwin, an open source UNIX-based foundation built on technologies such as FreeBSD, Mach, Apache, and GCC. Darwin provides a complete UNIX environment, with X11 and POSIX services comparable to Linux or FreeBSD, including familiar kernel, libraries, networking and command-line utilities.
Related Terms: Operating Systems
Reference Links:http://www.apple.com/macosx/: Mac OS X Overview