How Mac applications evolved from a multitude of resources to a bundle formed from a standard layout of directories, and how they have come to be largely self-contained in macOS 26.
Mac OS X
Adobe’s Carousel reader came in 1993, and in Mac OS X PDF was built into its Quartz graphics. That enabled Preview to become the claimed ‘fastest PDF viewer on the planet’.
First public Internet service provided by dial-up modem, in 1992. This is how we configured those connections in 2001, and connected via a mobile phone and Bluetooth.
Netscape Navigator 1994, Cyberdog and Internet Explorer in 1996, Chimera/Camino in 2002, OmniWeb in 2000, and finally Safari in 2003, and more besides.
Four eras: rebuilding the Desktop, repairing permissions, resetting Home permissions, and most recently cursing privacy protection. A cynical history?
From AppleSearch and Find File in 1994, demand for search has grown with rising storage capacity. Sherlock was released in 1998, then replaced by Spotlight in 2005. Twenty years later it’s still going strong.
How Apple adopted a triplet version numbering scheme by 1988, then complicated it with additional revision numbers, Supplemental Updates, RSRs, and more.
From early code pages based on language-specific variants of Extended ASCII, through 2-byte support in WorldScript II, to Unicode and the annual emoji update.
From their use to replicate floppy disks in manufacture, to their key roles in macOS, for distribution of software, and on network servers to contain backups. Unglamorous but essential.
From Installer packages and metapackages, to the first for Big Sur with its new boot volume group. RSRs and their demise, and when an upgrade is an update.
The Eclectic Light Company 