For millions of post-iPod Mac users, OS X is the alpha and omega of the Apple desktop. Unlike Microsoft --- which has basically kept the same arrangement and appearance for its task bar and icons despite updating the overall feel of Windows over the last decade or so --- Apple took its OS in a completely new direction back in 2001 and has never looked back, integrating a new processor architecture and building a revolutionary mobile platform around its sleek engine and slick curves.

 

Since replacing OS 9 as the default on all new Macs, OS X has seen four major revisions and a slew of revolutionary features that have put some serious distance between the two environments. But those of us who remember OS 9.2 will recall with varying degrees of fondness the last serious update to Classic, which added some 50 new features to OS 8.6 to create what Steve Jobs hailed as “the best Internet operating system ever.”

 

And while the OS X experience is vastly superior to its predecessor, there are still a few nostalgic elements that we longtime Mac fans will always have a soft spot for:

 

 

Whoosh, and the window is gone

 

WindowShade
By the time OS 9 rolled around, System 7.5’s standalone WindowShade control panel was incorporated into the Appearance Manager as an option to “collapse windows,” but double-clicking the title bar still offered the same clutter-removal goodness. Apple’s OS X solution is to stylishly minimize open windows to the Dock, but hardcore OS 9 devotees have undoubtedly downloaded WindowShade X instead.

 

 

He's all smiles now...

 

Happy Mac
In Mac OS 9, Apple updated its monochrome startup icon with a fresh set of paint that was worthy of OS X’s bright, cheerful GUI. Initially, Happy Mac looked like it would make the Aqua transition without missing a beat, but Apple inexplicably killed the iconic character in favor of a simple, gray Apple logo, beginning with Mac OS X 10.2 Jaguar. We all understand the need for brand recognition, but there’s nothing like a smiling face to start your day off right.

 

 

Better than Stacks?

 

Desktop Tabs
With the development of OS X, Apple abandoned the Control Strip and placed all of its eggs in a Task bar-ish basket for apps, folders, documents and the Trash. While the Dock can be useful --- especially with the introduction of Stacks in Leopard --- it lacks the charm of OS 9’s organization tools and tricks. Classic power users remember dragging windows to the bottom of the desktop to create neat little tabs that hid pop-up windows for quick access to often-used folders.

 

 

 

VoicePrint

Back before Fast User Switching turned the Mac login screen into thing of beauty, gaining access to the desktop consisted of typing passwords into standard, sterile boxes. But there was still one feature that set Apple apart from the pack: Like a sort of vocal fingerprint, OS 9 allowed users to record an alternate password in the form of a spoken phrase that was uttered at the login screen. Setting up the voiceprint phrase was all very cloak-and-dagger, as the system studied your voice, and matched pitches and pauses in a series of four recordings. Once a proper sample was stored, users could speak that phrase at the login screen to gain access to their desktop without hitting a key. While we love OS X’s cube effect, we’d love it even more if it responded to our calls of “Moof!”

 

 

Mono Blue, the kissing disease theme

 

Themes
Until Leopard finally streamlined things, Apple struggled to keep its apps uniform in OS X. Each major revision brought new features and overhauls, which eventually created a mishmash of brushed metal, subtle stripes and smooth gray that could only be changed by installing third-party hackies. In OS 9, however, Apple offered complete control over the appearance of the desktop via a handful of themes that could be applied quickly and easily through the Appearance control panel. Ranging from simple color changes to psychedelic makeovers, Apple let users create a desktop that reflected uniqueness and individuality, but unfortunately ditched the idea once OS X came along. Of course, we all like Leopard’s streamlined GUI, but some of us wouldn’t mind tweaking the blue bars we’ve been staring at for seven years.

 

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Come on Apple, bring this to OS X

 

Print Window
It’s not necessarily a daily task, but there are plenty of times when the ability to quickly print the contents of a Finder window comes in handy; however, Apple inexplicably removed this feature when making the move from Carbon to Cocoa. It has since included a hidden, cumbersome way to accomplish this simple task, but after six major versions of OS X, Print Window has yet to reappear. (Here’s how to do it: Open the desired Finder window; press Command+Shift+4, followed by the space bar; move the camera cursor that appears until it highlights the open Finder window; click the mouse once; double-click the document that appears on your desktop or in the Documents Stack to open it in Preview; and finally, press Command+P. Easy, right?)

 

 

Pre-Safari

 

Internet Explorer
OK, bear with me on this one. Back before I bought my first Mac, I did all my writing and researching on a used laptop running Windows 95. Once I scraped together enough money to foot the bill for a PowerMac, I ditched the ThinkPad and dove head first into the Mac desktop experience, which was a little daunting at first. It may sound strange, but it was comforting to see the blue Internet Explorer icon in a sea of unfamiliarity --- and I think today’s switchers would appreciate the same friendly face.

 

 

Uh oh

 

Bomb
When OS 9 crashed --- which was far more frequent than we’d like to remember --- a dialog box popped up informing you of the need to restart. To ease the pain of losing whatever you happened to be working on at the time was a silly graphic of a bomb seconds away from going off. Apple’s OS X answer is an unsettling full-screen picture of a power button, with a cascading multi-language message imploring a restart. We prefer OS 9’s cute, little exploder.

 

 

Moof!

 

Clarus the Dogcow
Like die-hard fans of any professional sports team, Mac devotees have a tendency to latch onto little things that set them apart from the rest of the crowd. Enter Clarus the dogcow. Introduced as one of the dingbats in the Cairo font suitcase way back when, Clarus soon found a home in the Mac OS page setup box, where she skillfully showed the paper’s orientation, “moofed” when clicked and inspired legions of geeks to print a little more often than necessary. She even had her own theme song, found in Macintosh Technical Note #31:

 

A dogcow is what I want to be.
Pictured in dialogs,


Running through the weeds,


In and out of advertisements,


Loving my naughty deeds.
Feeling in black and white.
Over the edge of cliffs,


Out with the tide in the sea.


Living life to the fullest,


Sweet survival in 2 D.

 

And if anyone at Apple is reading this, we all miss her dearly.

 

 

This may take a while

 

Coffee Breaks
With the dawn of OS X, proper multi-tasking on the Mac was finally born. No longer did we have to wait for a 1MB Photoshop file to render before we could begin working on another project. Gone were the trips outside for a cigarette while a video compressed, or to the vending machine while a disc burned. Of course, we appreciate the increase in productivity, but how are we supposed to catch a cat-nap while a progress bar slowly moves across the screen now?

 

 

Editors Note (AKA Robbie): Thanks to a few keen-eyed readers, we realized that a wonderful Stickies apps resides near the bottom of our Applications folder in Leopard. Let's just say we've written a few unprintable words on our newly discovered desktop Sticky. Still, we're not about to hide our mistake. Check out the Stickies item below.

 

All the convenience, none of the adhesive

 

Desktop Stickies
There’s no arguing that Dashboard is one of the most useful apps to come out of Cupertino’s labs since iTunes. With breathtaking effects, striking graphics and dozens of practical applications, Dashboard opened up the Mac desktop to a world of mini Web apps available at the stroke of a key. They’ve undoubtedly made our lives easier, but there is at least one that we OS 9 users would like to see return to OS X proper: Stickies. Dashboard Stickies are certainly useful, but Post-It notes work much better when they’re in plain view. UNIX tinkers can fiddle in Terminal to trick the Stickies Widget (defaults write com.apple.dashboard devmode YES), but most Mac users will be forced to enter Dashboard to read their important notes.

 

 

What do you miss from OS 9? Tell us in the comments below.