10 macOS apps and features you probably forgot about | usagoldmines.com

New options are added, and outdated options finally get discontinued. That is the cycle of software program improvement, and macOS (beforehand Mac OS) has been by way of it various instances throughout its 40-year historical past. There are many historical Mac OS options that have been discontinued or forgotten about, and we have rounded up 10 of them on this record.

Many have been faraway from the working system altogether, however some are nonetheless current — albeit little-used and arduous to search out — within the newest model of macOS Sequoia. If you happen to’ve been an avid person of the best Macs through the years, let’s examine what number of of those apps and options you keep in mind.

10

MobileMe

This service took many names over its 12-year lifespan, earlier than iCloud changed it

MobileMe went by way of a number of rebrands earlier than its eventual demise in 2011 — it launched as iTools in 2000, .Mac in 2002, and at last MobileMe in 2008. At first, iTools was a free set of on-line providers for Mac OS 9 customers. However when Apple launched Mac OS X, the brand new .Mac model was a paid subscription service. MobileMe introduced that service cross-platform, because it then supported Mac OS X, Microsoft Home windows, and iOS. It housed many providers that also exist as we speak, like Apple Mail, Discover My, cloud storage, and system backups.

MobileMe was the predecessor to iCloud, and it was left behind when its providers have been ported to iCloud and made free. After all, we now know that the iCloud+ subscription now blends iTools, .Mac, and Cell Me. You possibly can entry the essential iCloud options at no cost, like iTools, and pay additional for extra options, much like MobileMe. Though iCloud is the religious successor to MobileMe, the unique service has been faraway from Mac OS X and macOS for over a decade.

9

Cowl Stream

This enjoyable characteristic helped you scroll by way of your Finder and iTunes libraries

Cowl Stream was a enjoyable and helpful characteristic that permit Mac OS X and iPod customers scroll by way of their music, media, and information with a “flipping” animation. It is like a mix of the Record and Gallery views within the macOS Finder as we speak, however higher. It labored in MacOS Tiger and iTunes 7 up till the discharge of macOS Excessive Sierra. The rationale for the fan-favorite characteristic’s disappearance? Apple settled a patent dispute with Mirror Worlds over its use of the characteristic, and it was subsequently faraway from all Apple platforms.

8

AppleWorks

If you happen to use the Pages, Numbers, and Keynote apps within the iWork suite inside fashionable variations of macOS, you may be stunned to be taught that these productiveness apps might be traced again to the very first model of Mac OS in 1984. Then, they have been referred to as AppleWorks. Nevertheless, the AppleWorks program was extra tightly built-in than iWork, and might be improved with third-party instruments. iWork does not have all of the options that AppleWorks as soon as had, however the latter was discontinued in 2007. You possibly can’t even open the software program suite as of Mac OS X Lion, because it was a PowerPC app with no help for Intel structure.

AppleWorks lasted a good 23 years, however it’s now forgotten. Initially, AppleWorks information might be launched with iWork apps, however that hasn’t been doable for greater than a decade with fashionable macOS variations.

7

iLife

A enjoyable set of apps together with iPhoto, iDVD, and iMovie

iLife was a software program growth bundle that got here with as many as six apps, first launching in 1999. That timed up completely with the discharge of the iMac G3 DV, which stood for digital video and was designed to enchantment to moviemakers, content material creators, and other people merely desperate to check out house video. Nevertheless, the total iLife suite, as it’s generally remembered, debuted in 2003 for a value of $50. Of the six apps it included — iTunes, iMovie, iPhoto, iDVD, GarageBand, and iWeb — the one apps presently discovered on macOS Sequoia are iMovie and GarageBand. The ultimate iLife launch was iLife ’13.

Enjoyable truth: apps within the iLife suite have, at varied instances, been compiled for PowerPC, Intel, and Arm architectures.

6

QuickTime Participant

Throughout the digital video increase within the Nineteen Nineties and 2000s, there was a necessity for a cross-platform multimedia structure. That is why Apple developed the QuickTime File Format, which finally would change into the most typical format for media. You might watch movies within the QuickTime Participant that was pre-installed with Mac OS, and was additionally accessible on Home windows. Ultimately, QuickTime Participant was successfully changed by different apps in current variations of macOS. The Screenshot, iTunes, Finder, and Preview apps are just some which have assumed the default roles beforehand held by QuickTime Participant.

Though you may nonetheless use QuickTime Participant within the newest macOS Sequoia, it hasn’t been the default app for video playback for a very long time. It is also not cross-platform, because the Home windows model was axed in 2016.

5

AirPort Utility

AirPort Utility is a default macOS utility that may nonetheless be present in macOS Sequoia, however its usefulness has diminished step by step through the years. It was distinctive within the sense that it was a full-fledged software for router and community administration. On the time, it was abundantly widespread for web-based instruments for use for router setup. The app was primarily used for Apple’s in-house routers, the AirPort product line. Now that these have been discontinued for years, AirPort Utility isn’t interacted with by macOS customers, until they’ve nonetheless obtained an AirPort router in use.

4

macOS Server

Mac OS X Server, and later macOS Server, was an working system designed that can assist you use Mac {hardware} as a server. It was bundled with Xserve, which was a devoted server offered by Apple. You might additionally purchase Mac Mini and Mac Professional programs with Mac OS X Server pre-installed, or pay for it individually to be used on any Mac. Mac OS X Server later grew to become an app relatively than a full working system, and this app was accessible till 2022. We’ve not seen a server OS or app from Apple suitable with Apple silicon Macs or current variations of macOS.

3

Entrance Row

Entrance Row is a novel piece of Mac historical past, as a result of it represents Apple’s positioning of the Mac and iPod as killer media units. It began delivery new iMacs and MacBooks with the Apple Distant, a small and plastic IR distant that might be used to manage a pc from afar. That paired with Entrance Row, a full-screen media middle software with a easy navigation menu and large icons and textual content, fairly properly. It was primarily an non-obligatory interface that interacted with the prevailing iTunes and iPhoto content material in your Mac.

Sadly, Mac OS X Lion eliminated Entrance Row. It was such a well-liked characteristic on the time that some passionate customers tried to hack it into the brand new OS by recompiling the Mac OS X Snow Leopard supply code information right into a practical app for Lion (through 9to5Mac). That janky resolution would not final lengthy, although.

2

DVD Participant

DVD Participant is a reasonably simple app — it was used to play DVDs on Mac desktops and laptops with a SuperDrive. You possibly can nonetheless apply it to macOS Sequoia, however that’ll be difficult. Apple hasn’t offered a Mac with an optical drive in a while, and it not too long ago discontinued the Apple USB SuperDrive. There’s now no official solution to play DVDs in your Mac, regardless of the DVD Participant’s existence, until you may monitor down an outdated USB SuperDrive or use third-party optical drives. It is firmly a relic of one other time.

1

Cyberdog and Web Explorer

Two historical Mac OS browsers which might be equally wild to recollect

Safari customers do not know the way straightforward they’ve it in current variations of macOS. Over time, there have been a handful of bizarre Mac OS default browsers, like Cyberdog. It was primarily based on OpenDoc and launched in beta in 1996. If you happen to do not keep in mind Cyberdog, that is as a result of the browser was killed only a yr later, in 1997. When Steve Jobs returned to Apple, he pushed for the OpenDoc apps, together with Cyberdog, to be left behind. This is what he needed to say at WWDC 1997 in response to a query in regards to the killing of OpenDoc:

I do know loads of you spent loads of time engaged on stuff that we put a bullet within the head of. I apologize. I really feel your ache. However Apple suffered for a number of years from awful engineering administration. I’ve to say it.

Ultimately, Jobs was proper, however placing “a bullet within the head of” Cyberdog was a casualty of his restructuring efforts — and it will worsen earlier than it obtained higher. Across the identical time, Web Explorer for Mac grew to become the default Mac OS browser as a part of a groundbreaking deal between Apple and Microsoft.

Web Explorer for Mac was the official Mac OS browser for about six years, till Mac OS X Panther launched Safari in 2003. After all, Safari continues to be round as we speak. However it took a rocky and inconsistent path that included wacky default browsers, like Cyberdog and Web Explorer for Mac, to get there.

What would be the subsequent app, utility, or characteristic to affix this record?

Apple provides and removes options with each iteration of macOS, and extra are forgotten about. If you happen to needed to ask me, the macOS Sequoia characteristic more than likely to affix these ranks in a couple of years is Stage Manager. It was not too long ago launched with macOS Sonoma, however we did not hear a peep about it when macOS Sequoia was revealed. Plus, I have not talked to a single one who makes use of Stage Supervisor on their Mac. I would by no means use it, though it is a necessary characteristic on my iPad Pro. Even Apple appears to have forgotten about it solely a yr later.

To make the decision for your self, take a look at our roundup of each characteristic added to macOS Sequoia — there is a whopping 164 of them. At the very least a kind of options will in all probability be misplaced to time, similar to the ten we have rounded up right here.