Marketing and legal matters decided the versioning here. The “System 7.7” update was then re-named “Mac OS 8” to get Apple out of some third party licensing deals, which were set to expire on version 8. A brief history of the Mac operating system versionsīefore the “Mac OS” label, the Macintosh operating system was called “System 7.” “Mac OS 8”, code-named “ Copland,” was supposed to be the new operating system with all the new features, but the project kept slipping and then was cancelled. But for developers and MacAdmins, the version number has to be as granular as possible, ideally with a different number for each build made.īecause of these, sometimes opposing, interests, it is no wonder that versioning is often a problem for MacAdmins. The version number conveys technical information: how much change can you expect and might it break existing workflows and data? Users will be more willing to pay for a major upgrade with new features, so the version number is used as a marketing tool. Versioning software is a surprisingly difficult task.
