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> For example, there’s no traditional file system... The whole desktop metaphor isn’t really there, because that isn’t really what it was. The earliest Macs fe

by djur 3y ago

> For example, there’s no traditional file system... The whole desktop metaphor isn’t really there, because that isn’t really what it was. The earliest Macs feel 'weird' in this way too, since the hierarchical filesystem wasn't introduced until the Mac Plus and multiple applications running simultaneously weren't officially supported until System 5 (with MultiFinder). It doesn't really start feeling like the modern 'desktop' until System 7, where they started treating the desktop like a folder.

lispm 3y ago
The Mac also had no preemptive task switching, no memory protection between applications and/or the OS. Early on there was also no software development on the Mac - one needed an Apple Lisa for that.
- lproven 3y ago
  I think it's important to note that the Mac didn't have multitasking because it was so savagely cost-reduced, and the team had to fit a GUI OS into 128 kB of RAM. The Lisa did have multitasking. It is one of the Lisa features that was cut from the Mac. And then Apple spent a decade or so trying to put it back in again.
  - lispm 3y ago
    Though it was cooperative Multitasking, something with the MacOS also got, years later A good overview of the Apple Lisa is this: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/2996607_The_Architecture_Of_The_Lisa-_Personal_Computer https://www.researchgate.net/publication/2996607_The_Archite... "The Architecture Of The Lisa-Personal Computer"
igouy 3y ago
> For example, there’s no traditional file system. Is that correct? The first screen-grab in the article shows a "System Workspace" window with some script snippets that seem to do "traditional file system" stuff. "The Smalltalk-80 system includes classes FileDirectory, File, and FilePage to represent these structural parts of a file system." etc etc page 209 "Smalltalk-80: The Language and its Implementation" https://rmod-files.lille.inria.fr/FreeBooks/BlueBook/Bluebook.pdf https://rmod-files.lille.inria.fr/FreeBooks/BlueBook/Blueboo...

by djur 3y ago

lispm 3y ago

The Mac also had no preemptive task switching, no memory protection between applications and/or the OS. Early on there was also no software development on the Mac - one needed an Apple Lisa for that.

lproven 3y ago
I think it's important to note that the Mac didn't have multitasking because it was so savagely cost-reduced, and the team had to fit a GUI OS into 128 kB of RAM. The Lisa did have multitasking. It is one of the Lisa features that was cut from the Mac. And then Apple spent a decade or so trying to put it back in again.
- lispm 3y ago
  Though it was cooperative Multitasking, something with the MacOS also got, years later A good overview of the Apple Lisa is this: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/2996607_The_Architecture_Of_The_Lisa-_Personal_Computer https://www.researchgate.net/publication/2996607_The_Archite... "The Architecture Of The Lisa-Personal Computer"

igouy 3y ago

> For example, there’s no traditional file system. Is that correct? The first screen-grab in the article shows a "System Workspace" window with some script snippets that seem to do "traditional file system" stuff. "The Smalltalk-80 system includes classes FileDirectory, File, and FilePage to represent these structural parts of a file system." etc etc page 209 "Smalltalk-80: The Language and its Implementation" https://rmod-files.lille.inria.fr/FreeBooks/BlueBook/Bluebook.pdf https://rmod-files.lille.inria.fr/FreeBooks/BlueBook/Blueboo...