An OS Xcursion
 | Mac OS X Developer Preview 1 represents a years worth of progress over last year's Rhapsody DR2, it is the latest evolution of an operating system with a mature heritage. This visual tour will highlight some of the most prominent additions to this software since its last iteration, Mac OS X Server 1.0 |
History
A brief summary:
NextStep (3.3) -> Openstep (4.2) -> Rhapsody DR1 (5.0) -> Rhapsody DR2 (5.1) ->
Mac OS X Server 1.0 -> Mac OS X DP1 -> Mac OS X DP2 -> Mac OS 10 (Client & Server)
With each successive release, the interface becomes more Mac-like,
while retaining many useful components from NextStep.
Installation
The installation process is just as simple as with OS X Server although there are a few noticeable changes. First is the new faked 'Happy Mac' screen displayed during kernel loading. This serves no purpose other than cosmetic, and it adds an element of cheesiness to an otherwise smooth piece of software. One may also notice the removal of the keyboard shorcuts to invoke the kernel mini-monitor and debugger. Single-user mode and verbose boot are still there, and they sport an improved color terminal.
Login
Login is the same as in previous releases, with an option to automatically login under a specified username.
You can see the new login graphic 
here, sans icons and l/p entry box.
Quartz/PDF
A number of fonts and text regions throughout OS X DP1 are automatically scaled and antialiased,
approximating the effect of ATM and font smoothing on 8.x systems. This native drawing engine is
especially impressive with the PDF viewer. Documents can be rotated and they will redraw smoothly in real-time.
There is also a flip-thru feature where it will display all of the pages of a pdf in rapid succession.
This is one of the few times where the system feels more responsive than OS 8.x.
Screenshot of PDF Viewer with dynamically rotated text
PDF on Carbon porting, with legacy help msg.
Carbon
Carbon is the single biggest addition to the system in this release. It is somewhat sluggish and stubbornly behaved in this
build, and not all features are implemented. That is to be expected from software in this stage however, and there is no reason to think
performance will not improve dramatically between now and the final release. A number of demonstration apps are included to show the power
of Carbon and the ease in porting 8.x apps.
Carbonated Fetch, an ancient Mac FTP client.
Carbon SimpleText, accurate down to the 32k filesize limit ;)
It is interesting to note that navigation services has been ported to carbon as well, and it presents itself during the open/save dialogs
of all included Carbon apps. The porting of common application components such as this has paved an even smoother path for the Mac OS
developer looking to move to OS 10.
Navigation Services dialog.
The grand-daddy of all Carbon demos is included as well. It manages to sqeeze in just about every widget, windoid, slider,
button, and crank available in the Mac OS repertoire. This app provides about 5 minutes of unfettered amusement, until you realize
that it is completely useless.
The end-all Appearance demo app.
No mention of developmental Apple software would be complete without a visit from the blue meanies. In our demo, some carbon windows
remained 'stuck' in front of all other windows, obscuring apps from the screen. There was also a number of cosmetic errors when moving
torn off menus and non-carbon windows in front of a carbon app.
Trails from terminal window dragged in front of Carbon app.
Blue Box
Blue Box remains virtually unchanged from OS X Server. Perhaps when the merger of workspace manager and carbonized 8.x Finder is complete
we will see Blue Box drawing windows in rootless mode, sharing the screen with yellow box and carbon apps. It's also possible that such a change
would break too much and Blue Box will remain forever boxed.
Returning to OS X from Blue Box.
Screensaver
Logo displayed when Login Window is left idle.
Spinning Apples "Yum" screensaver.
Misc
We could find no references to Yellow Box as "Cocoa" nor references to Blue Box as "Classic". Theres also no referring to the text engine as "Quartz". It seems that Steve decided on these names at the last minute. Whatever the case may be such marketing decisions are rather trivial for this version since it is targeted to developers.
Computer used for testing:
Processor: gossamer g3 233 clocked to 300.
Video: ATI Rage 64 w/ 6 mb VRAM
Storage: 224 MB SDRAM; 4 gig caviar, 4 gig fireball
OS in Blue Box: Mac OS 8.6
Logistics: DMI
Audio: Current Value