Mac OS X 10.0 was released five years ago today, on March 24th, 2001. To me, it felt like the end of a long road rather than a beginning. At that point, I'd already written over 100,000 words about Apple's new OS for Ars Technica, starting with the second developer release and culminating in the public beta several months before 10.0. But the road that led to Mac OS X extends much farther into past—years, in fact.
Mac OS X 10.0 was the end of many things. First and foremost, it was the end of one of the most drawn-out, heart-wrenching death spirals in the history of the technology sector. Historians (and Wall Street) may say that it was the iMac, with its fresh, daring industrial design, that marked the turning point for Apple. But that iMac was merely a stay of execution at best, and a last, desperate gasp at worst. By the turn of the century, Apple needed a new OS, and it needed one badly. No amount of translucent plastic was going to change that.
Apple was so desperate for a solution to its OS problem in the mid- to late 1990s that both Solaris and Windows NT were considered as possible foundations for the next-generation Mac OS. And even these grim options represented the end of a longer succession of abortive attempts at technological rejuvenation: OpenDoc, QuickDraw 3D, QuickDraw GX, Taligent, Pink, Copland, Gershwin, Dylan—truly, a trail of tears. (If you can read that list without flinching, turn in your Apple Extended Keyboard II and your old-school Mac cred.)
In retrospect, it seems almost ridiculously implausible that Apple's prodigal son, thrown out of the company in 1985, would spend the next twelve years toiling away in relative obscurity on technology that would literally save the company upon his return. (Oh, and he also converted an orphaned visual effects technology lab into the most powerful animation studio in the US—in his spare time, one presumes.)
So yes, Mac OS X marked the end of a dark time in Apple's history, but it was also the end of a decade of unprecedented progress and innovation. In my lifetime, I doubt I will ever experience a technological event that is both as transformative and as abrupt as the introduction of the Macintosh. Literally overnight, a generation of computer users went from a black screen with fuzzy green text and an insistently blinking cursor to crisp, black text on a white background, windows, icons, buttons, scrollbars, menus, and this crazy thing called a 'mouse.'
Under Mac OS X 10.4 to 10.8, download this installer (19.5 MB). In both cases, double-click on the downloaded file and run Sweet Home 3D application found in the opened folder. If the system refuses to launch Sweet Home 3D for security reasons, click on its application icon while maintaining the ctrl key pressed, and choose Open in the.
I see a lot more Mac users today than I ever saw in the pre-Mac OS X era, but few of them remember what it was like in the beginning. They've never argued with someone who's insisted that 'only toy computers have a mouse.' They didn't spend years trying to figure out why the world stuck with MS-DOS while they were literally living in the future. They never played the maze. (Dagnabbit!)
AdvertisementToday's Mac users appreciate the refinement, the elegance, the nuances of Mac OS X. Today, the Mac grows on people. It seeps into their consciousness until they either break down and buy one or retreat to familiarity, perhaps to be tempted again later.
The original Mac users had a very different experience. Back then, the Mac wasn't a seductive whisper; it was a bolt of lightning, a wake-up call, a goddamn slap in the face. 'Holy crap! This is it!' Like I said, transformative. For the rest of the computing world, that revelatory moment was paced out over an entire decade. The experience was diluted, and the people were transformed slowly, imperceptibly.
That era ended on March 24th, 2001. Mac OS X 10.0 was the capstone on the Mac-That-Was. It was the end of the ride for the original Mac users. In many ways, it was the end of the Mac. In the subsequent five years (and over 200,000 more words here at Ars), the old world of the Mac has faded into the distance. With it, so have many of the original Mac users. Some have even passedon. Mac OS X 10.0 had a message: the Mac is dead.
Mac OS X arose, phoenix-like, from the ashes of the Mac-That-Was. Okay, maybe more like an injured phoenix. Also, Apple didn't light the bird on fire until a few years later. But still, technically, phoenix-like.
A side-by-side test-drive of Mac OS X 10.0 and 10.4 is shocking. The eternal debate is whether this gap exists because 10.4 is so good, or because 10.0 was so, so bad. That said, Apple's ability to plan and execute its OS strategy is not open for debate. In five short years, Apple has essentially created an entirely new platform. Oh, I know, it's really just the foundation of NeXT combined with the wreckage of classic Mac OS, but I think that makes it even more impressive. Two failing, marginalized platforms have combined to become the platform for the alpha geeks in the new century.
Today's Mac users span a much wider range than those of the past. Mac OS X's Unix-like core reached out to the beard-and-suspenders crowd (and the newer source-code-and-a-dream crowd) while the luscious Aqua user interface pulled all the touchy-feely aesthetes from the other direction. In the middle were the refugees from the Mac-That-Was, but they aren't the story here. Mac OS X is about new blood and new ideas—some good, some bad, but all vibrant. The Mac is alive again!
After spending half my life watching smart, talented people ignore the Mac for reasons of circumstance or prejudice, it's incredibly gratifying to live in a post-Mac OS X world. When I encounter a tech-world luminary or up-and-coming geek today, I just assume that he or she uses a Mac. Most of the time, I'm right. Even those with a conflicting affiliation (e.g., Linux enthusiasts) often use Apple laptops, if not the OS.
AdvertisementIn the media, the Mac and Apple have gone from depressing headlines on the business page to gushing feature stories everywhere. Even traditional strongholds of other platforms have fallen under the translucent fist of Mac OS X. Just look at Slashdot, long a haven for Linux topics, now nearly living up to the frequent accusation that it's become 'an Apple news site.' Here at Ars Technica, the story is similar. The 'PC Enthusiast's Resource' from 1999 is now absolutely swimming in Apple-related content.
As much as I like to think that I brought on this transformation here at Ars with my avalanche of words, the truth is that Mac OS X is responsible. Yes, Apple's shiny hardware helped, but it was the software that finally won over those stubborn PC geeks. It helped that the software was shiny too, but it would have all been for nothing if not for one word: respect.
Mac OS X made the alpha geeks respect the Mac. My part, if any, in the transformation of a green-on-black den of PC users into a clean, well-lighted home for Apple news and reviews was merely to explain what Mac OS X is, where it's coming from, and where it appears to be going. The rest followed naturally. It's Unix. It's a Mac. It's pretty, stable, novel, innovative, and different. Mac OS X was powerful geeknip; it still is.
During the first few years of Mac OS X's life, I began my reviews with a section titled, 'What is Mac OS X?' That seems quaint in retrospect, but it really was necessary back then. (The pronunciation tips contained in those sections might still be useful. Even Steve Jobs still says 'ecks' instead of 'ten' sometimes. He also said 'PowerBook' during the last press event. I'm just saying...'MacBook'? Come on.)
Today, Mac OS X has achieved escape velocity. After five years and five competently executed major releases, Apple has earned the right to take a little more time with Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard. Users need a break from the upgrade cycle too. (Well, the software upgrade cycle, anyway.) For all my complaints about the Finder, file system metadata, user interface responsiveness, you name it, I've always been rooting for Mac OS X. I've always wanted to believe. After five years, that faith is finally paying off.
Complacency's not my style, though. I still think Mac OS X can be better, and I continue to hold Apple to a very high standard. I've even got a head start on worrying about Apple's next OS crisis. (See parts one, two, three, and four.) Maybe I've been scarred by Apple's late-1990s dance with death...or maybe I've just learned an important lesson. Maybe Apple has too. I sure hope so, because I don't know if I can go through all that again.
Mac OS X is five years old today. It's got a decade to go before it matches the age of its predecessor, and perhaps longer before it can entirely escape the shadow of the original Mac. But I'm glad I'm along for the ride.
Sweet Home 3D application may run on Windows, Mac OS X 10.4 to macOS 11, Linux and Solaris.
Depending on whether Java is installed on you system or not, you may launch Sweet Home 3D
with Java Web Start or its installer.
Sweet Home 3D installer is available under two versions, both bundled with a private copy of Java:
(version 6.5.2 - 77.1 MB) | (version 6.5.1 - 228 MB) |
Once downloaded, run the installation program and follow the instructions from the installation wizard.
Ensure that the latest version of the drivers of your video card is installed, to get the best performances in Sweet Home 3D. If you encounter some problems at Sweet Home 3D launch, please read the FAQ for additional information. |
Sweet Home 3D installer is available under two versions, both bundled with a private copy of Java:
(version 6.5.2 - 77.1 MB) | (version 6.5.3 - 245 MB) |
Once downloaded, run the installation program and follow the instructions from the installation wizard.
Ensure that the latest version of the drivers of your video card is installed, to get the best performances in Sweet Home 3D. If you encounter some problems at Sweet Home 3D launch, please read the FAQ for additional information. |
Sweet Home 3D installer is available under two versions:
(version 6.5.2 - 75 MB) | (version 6.5.3 - 270 MB) |
For the free version, downloadSweetHome3D-6.5.2-macosx.dmg
for Mac OS X 10.8 to macOS 11, orSweetHome3D-6.5.2-macosx-10.4-10.9.dmg
(19.5 MB) for Mac OS X 10.4 to 10.8. Then double-click on the file you'll have downloaded, and runSweet Home 3D
application found in the opened folder. If the system refuses to launch Sweet Home 3D for security reasons, click on its application icon while maintaining the ctrl key pressed, and choose Open in the contextual menu that will appear. To install Sweet Home 3D, drag and drop the application in the folder of your choice.
If you don't want to care about the Java configuration of your system, click on one of the following links to download an all-in-one Sweet Home 3D installer bundled with Java:
Windows installer | - | Mac OS X installer | - | Linux 32-bit installer | - | Linux 64-bit installer |
(77.1 MB) | (75 MB) | (70.9 MB) | (67.6 MB) |
Run the downloaded installation program, and follow the instructions from the installation wizard. |
Under Mac OS X 10.4 to 10.8, download this installer (19.5 MB). |
Uncompress the downloaded file and run SweetHome3D application found in the uncompressed directory, possibly using this tip to launch it with a double click under Ubuntu. To install Sweet Home 3D, move the uncompressed directory in the one of your choice or read this article to create a launcher (see also this subject in the forum). |
Whatever your system is, ensure that the latest version of the drivers of your video card is installed, to get the best performances in Sweet Home 3D. |
If Java version 8 is installed on your system, click on the following link to download and launch Sweet Home 3D version 6.5.2 (19.5 MB):
Launch Sweet Home 3D with Java Web Start | |
Clicking on the previous link will automatically download and launch Sweet Home 3D. | |
If Sweet Home 3D loading doesn't start once you clicked on the previous link, click on the SweetHome3D.jnlp downloaded file while maintaining the ctrl key pressed, and choose Open in the contextual menu that will appear. | |
Choose to open the SweetHome3D.jnlp downloaded file with javaws program that you'll find in the bin directory of the JRE (Java Runtime Environment). |
If, once started, the download of Sweet Home 3D files by Java Web Start is interrupted, please wait, download should continue after a while. |
Depending on your needs, you may also download the following files proposed in the Sweet Home 3D Download section on SourceForge.net:
3D models libraries | Each zipped file of the section SweetHome3D-models contains a double-clickable SH3F file describing additional 3D models created by contributors for the furniture catalog of Sweet Home 3D. Read Libraries of 3D models section for more information. |
Textures libraries | Each zipped file of the section SweetHome3D-textures contains a double-clickable SH3T file describing additional textures created by contributors for the textures catalog of Sweet Home 3D. |
Furniture Library Editor (10.8 MB) | This double-clickable JAR file launches the Furniture Library Editor under Windows, Mac OS X and Linux systems with Java installed. Like the Furniture import wizard, this application lets you quickly create a SH3F file and edit the properties of the 3D models it contains. |
Textures Library Editor (1.1 MB) | This double-clickable JAR file launches the Textures Library Editor under any system with Java installed. Like the Textures import wizard, this application lets you easily create a SH3T file and edit the properties of the texture images it contains. |
Sweet Home 3D JS Viewer (3.2 MB) | This archive contains the files of a HTML5 / WebGL Canvas you can upload on your web site to display the 3D view of a Sweet Home 3D file. Read the README.TXT file included in this archive for instructions about installation process. |
Sweet Home 3D portable (351 MB) | This 7-zip archive contains Sweet Home 3D applications for 32-bit and 64-bit Windows, Mac OS X, 32-bit and 64-bit Linux, bundled with the Java environments required to execute them. Once you uncompressed this archive in a given folder (on a hard disk or a USB key), you can move this folder or the USB key where you copied it to use Sweet Home 3D on another computer, without losing software configuration. |
Sweet Home 3D executable jar (25.5 MB) | This double-clickable JAR file launches Sweet Home 3D under Windows, Mac OS X and Linux systems with Java installed. It's not the preferred option to run Sweet Home 3D because you won't get association with Sweet Home 3D files, and depending on the Java version you use, it could use 96 MB of memory at maximum, which is too small to create middle sized homes. This JAR file is useful for plug-ins developers and advanced users who wants to run Sweet Home 3D with customized Java options (like the -Xmx Java option that lets you choose the maximum memory size used by Java). |
Sweet Home 3D installers | The SweetHome3D section contains the installers of Sweet Home 3D for all the supported operating systems and all the released versions up to the current version 6.5.2. |
Sweet Home 3D source (27.6 MB) | This archive contains the source files used to build Sweet Home 3D. Sources are useful to developers who want to contribute to the development of Sweet Home 3D and its plug-ins. Note that source files may be browsed on-line too with the web-based CVS repository viewer provided by SourceForge.net. |
Sweet Home 3D javadoc (2.5 MB) | This archive contains the developer's javadoc built from the source files of Sweet Home 3D. Javadoc is useful for developers only. Note that the javadoc may be browsed on-line here. |
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