MacOS 9
Mac OS 9 was the last revision of the main
operating system used on Macintosh computers prior to OS X. This
version contains a
number of features not present in earlier versions, this document
outlines a number of these.
Security
- Multiuser support. Mac OS 9 offers support for up to 40 different
users, controlling settings and access to files and folders.
- Voice Passwords. Although it's not that effective in noisy areas,
Mac OS 9 offers support for voice print based passwords for additional
login security.
- File Encryption. Mac OS 9 will encrypt files for you, either
locally or on a server.
Networking
- Automagic Updates. Mac OS 9 will let you know when an update for
it is available, and download it for you from the internet.
- IP Based File Sharing.Appleshare over IP is now supported for
peer to peer file sharing.
- Applescript over IP. Applescripting can now be used to control
Macs over the internet.
- Sherlock II. Although the new interface is controversial (it
resembled Quicktime 4's Movie Player), Sherlock II offers additional
features to the previous version.
- Keychain. An old feature from the system 7 days, keychain allows
you to store id and password combinations in a secure file, so that you
don't have to type in a user id and password for servers you use often.
Access is controlled by the keychain password. This is similar to the
security keys used in Windows, with the advantage that all ids and
passwords do not have to be the same.
- Network Browser. Using features from both Cyberdog and Chooser,
Network Browser allows you to choose from a variety of different
network services from a single menu system. It also supports SLP and
LDAP services.
Additional Features
- Multilingual support. Mac OS 9 contains enhancements to existing
support of languages, including Arabic, Hebrew, and Chinese.
- ColorSync 3. Apple's color calibration software gives users
consistent color output.
- Large File Support. Mac OS 9 supports files of up to 2 terabytes.
- Font Sync. Helps keep your documents looking consistent from
computer to computer.