From System 1 to Mac OS 9

System 1.0 gave the world the desktop, created at Xerox PARC but popularized by the Mac. Instead of command line entry, you could organize your documents just like you would on a desk — and throw them in the Trash just like in real life too. This was computing anyone could understand, and it was a huge milestone in bringing computers to the masses.

Apple’s graphical user interface beat Windows to market by two years. Some of its features, such as the Finder, are still with us today — but many of its limitations, like Macs’ lack of a hard disk and subsequent inability to multitask

— are long gone. System 1 included the menu bar, which it took from the Lisa and which had the Apple, File, Edit, View and Special menus. Its Desk Accessories are clearly a precursor to Sonoma’s Widgets too.

System 5 introduced basic if clunky multitasking, but the Mac OS of the era arguably peaked with 1991’s System 7. That introduced better multitasking, virtual memory, QuickTime and file sharing. Mac OS 9 shipped in 1999, but Apple was already paving the way for a very different operating system.

System 1 was the first mass-market graphical interface. Without it we’d all be speaking PC–DOS. The last of System 1.0’s offspring was Mac OS 9, but by the time it launched Apple had something even more exciting in its labs.

System 7 was arguably the peak of Apple’s early OS, with QuickTime, file sharing and multitasking.