Thursday, November 21, 2024
MacRetro

Mac OS X: It was 20 years ago today…

…no, Sergeant Pepper didn’t teach the band to play on March 24, 2001. Instead, that was the day that Apple released the first version of Mac OS X. 

The ancestor of today’s macOS 11 Big Sure, Mac OS X was announced at Macworld Expo on January 9, 2001 and shipped on March 24, 2001. Unlike today’s macOS, Apple charged users for the operating system. At the time, it was available for $129. 

The beta version of the operating system shipped in September of 2000, and Apple was thrilled to announce that “over 100,000 copies” of the beta had been shipped, resulting in over 75,000 feedback responses. I’m sure that modern macOS betas probably ship over 100,000 copies in the first hour…

You can read the full press release announcing the release date here.

Thanks to Apple’s Dave Marra for posting this gem on Facebook.

Steve Sande
the authorSteve Sande
Steve is the founder and former publisher of Apple World Today and has authored a number of books about Apple products. He's an avid photographer, an FAA-licensed drone pilot, and a really bad guitarist. Steve and his wife Barb love to travel everywhere!