Rhapsody (operating system)

Infobox_OS
name = Rhapsody


caption = A desktop showing a QuickTime movie and a drawing application.
developer = Apple Computer
family = BSD/NEXTSTEP
version_number =
source_model = Closed source
latest_release_version = DR2
latest_release_date = May 1998
kernel_type = Hybrid kernel
ui =
license = Never Released For the Public
working_state = Historic
website =
supported_platforms = Intel x86, PowerPC

Rhapsody is the code name given to Apple Computer's next-generation operating system during the period of its development between Apple's purchase of NeXT in late 1996 and the announcement of Mac OS X in 1998. It consisted primarily of the OPENSTEP operating system ported to the PowerMac along with new graphics in the GUI to make it appear more Mac-like. Several existing Mac OS technologies were also ported to Rhapsody, including QuickTime and AppleSearch. Rhapsody could also run a selection of existing Mac OS programs through the "Blue Box" emulation layer. Compared to the "invisible" blue box in OS X, Rhapsody's Blue Box was "noticeable" as it opened a Classic like program and there was no Carbon to help port existing Mac software to the new OS without the Blue Box.

History

Rhapsody was first demonstrated at the 1997 Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC). There were two subsequent general Developer Releases for computers with Intel x86 or PowerPC processors. The full version was intended for release in spring of 1998. At the 1998 MacWorld Expo in New York, Steve Jobs announced that Rhapsody would be released as Mac OS X Server 1.0 (which shipped in 1999). No home version of Rhapsody would be released. Its code base was forked into Darwin, the open source underpinnings of Mac OS X.

Design

The defining features of the operating system were a Mach microkernel, a BSD operating system layer (based on 4.4BSD), the Yellow Box object-oriented frameworks from OPENSTEP, the Blue Box compatibility environment for running "Classic" Macintosh applications (PowerPC version only), and a Java virtual machine.

The user interface was modeled after Mac OS. The Workspace Manager serves in the same capacity as the Finder in the Mac OS and was derived from the Workspace Manager used in NEXTSTEP/OPENSTEP. Yet, Rhapsody had some elements inherited from OPENSTEP notably the column view when navigating files.

Much of the initial work on Rhapsody eventually made it into Mac OS X. Apple's QuickTime and Java implementations were all part of the transition towards the future Mac OS X along with the integration of the classic Mac OS API with the modern OS X, known as Carbon.

Name

The name Rhapsody followed a pattern of music-related code names which Apple designated for operating system releases during the 1990s. Another next-generation operating system, which was to be the successor to the never-completed Copland operating system, was code-named "Gershwin" after George Gershwin, composer of Rhapsody in Blue. (Copland itself was named after another American composer, Aaron Copland). Other code names include Harmony (Mac OS 7.6), Tempo (Mac OS 8), Allegro (Mac OS 8.5), and Sonata (Mac OS 9).

Timeline of releases

External links

* [http://www.nextarchive.net NeXT Archive]
* [http://www.shawcomputing.net/rhapsody/home.html Shaw's Rhapsody Resource Page]
* [http://toastytech.com/guis/rhap.html Toastytech GUI Gallery] — Screenshots of Rhapsody Developer Release 2
* [http://www.guidebookgallery.org/screenshots/rhapsodydr2 GUIdebook > Screenshots > Rhapsody DR2] — Screenshots of Rhapsody (Intel version) and its components.
* [http://news.com.com/Apple+shows+off+Rhapsody+OS/2100-1001_3-203615.html "Apple shows off Rhapsody OS"] — An article written shortly after Apple first demonstrated Rhapsody.
* [http://www.macguild.org/rhapsody.html "Overall summary on Apple Rhapsody: A User Overview"] — An overview of Rhapsody's technologies.
* [http://www.osdata.com/oses/rhapsody.htm "Rhapsody" at OSData.com] — Technical specifications on the operating system.