An edited excerpt of Steve Jobs introducing Mac OS X at Macworld San Francisco in 2000. It covers the Aqua interface, Quartz graphics built on PDF, and the Classic, Carbon and Cocoa application environments.
Why Hacker News points people here: HN commenters cite it as primary-source evidence of what Jobs actually said about Mac OS X's design, open-source kernel and NeXT-based transition.
“In case you wanna procrastinate on a fascinating story about how Apple transitioned to NextStep's stack”HN comment, 2016
“Watch basically everyone asleep at the wheel except Jobs, the man with a plan.”
Part of a presentation series on Jobs' return and NeXT technologies.
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Basically, you get a corporate drama, a human drama and a tech drama all wrapped up in one series of presentations: Jobs' return (as a consultant) 1997, promoting technologies from NeXT. Watch basically everyone asleep at the wheel except Jobs, the man with a plan. link WWDC Q&A - 'the art of saying no' link Jobs' hostile takeover in July by doing a (probably illegal?) stock dump link Announcing a Deal with Microsoft as de facto CEO in August, booed by the crowd link Internal meeting in September 1997 link iMac introduction 1998 - Apple is back link Macworld 1998 - Apple is essentially saved as a company link OSX Strategy reveal (if you only have time for one presentation, watch this one) link 1999 - OSX Server launch link 2000 - OSX launch this video
Recommendsm_muellerDec 2016
“In case you wanna procrastinate on a fascinating story about how Apple transitioned to NextStep's stack”
Final entry in a presentation series on Apple's transition to NeXT stack.
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I copy from a comment of mine from last week. In case you wanna procrastinate on a fascinating story about how Apple transitioned to NextStep's stack without completely annihilating their already weak developer base, here's a few links: You get a corporate drama, a human drama and a tech drama all wrapped up in one series of presentations: Jobs' return (as a consultant) 1997, promoting technologies from NeXT. Watch basically everyone asleep at the wheel except Jobs, the man with a plan. link WWDC Q&A - 'the art of saying no' link Jobs' hostile takeover in July by doing a (probably illegal?) stock dump link Announcing a Deal with Microsoft as de facto CEO in August, booed by the crowd link Internal meeting in September 1997 link iMac introduction 1998 - Apple is back link Macworld 1998 - Apple is essentially saved as a company link OSX Strategy reveal link 1999 - OSX Server launch link 2000 - OSX launch this video
Cites itchrisringroseDec 2012
“Watch Steve Jobs state this here”
Jobs states Mac OS X's kernel would be open source.
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It's the kernel and basic elements. When Steve Jobs introduced Mac OS X, he stated even then that its kernel would be open source. Watch Steve Jobs state this here: this video It's still great that Apple does this, nonetheless. More open than Microsoft. (Similar source is available for iOS and some other properties too.)
Cites ittwoodfinFeb 2013
“Here's Steve introducing Mac OS X for the first time, describing running applications against Classic, Carbon, and Cocoa”
Jobs introduces Mac OS X with Classic, Carbon and Cocoa.
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Here's Steve introducing Mac OS X for the first time, describing running applications against Classic, Carbon, and Cocoa: this video It certainly seems clear to me (and seemed just as clear to me at the time) that Cocoa was being presented as the API of the future. Sure, Carbon is on the same slide, but so is Classic!
Cites itjd3Oct 2021
“Quartz, the engine for OS X's "killer graphics," was based on PDF.”
Jobs announces Quartz is based on PDF.
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ignoring the "thoughts on flash"[0] letter, the apple <=> adobe relationship goes back to at least the apple LaserWriter[1], so that would definitely make sense the Quartz compositor itself has "use[d] pdf internally"[2][3] ever since the initial launch of Mac OS X > By the time OS X came out, these were less the kind of features that "the next great personal computer operating system" should have, and more the kind that they all had. What was new included how Quartz, the engine for OS X's "killer graphics," was based on PDF. > "What does that mean?" asked Jobs. "You know when you go to the web and you see PDF documents? Well, that technology is now at the core of Mac OS X's graphics. So you can image PDFs instantly. So now all applications get this for free." > It's how, to this day, every Mac app can produce a PDF document without needing a third-party app.[4] [0]: link [1]: link [2]: this video / link [3]: link [4]: linklink
Cites itwolfhumbleFeb 2026
“One of the design goals was when you saw it you wanted to lick it”
Jobs introducing the Aqua interface.
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> But yeah. Man, the desktop was so beautiful and refreshing. ". . . that new user interface builds on Apple's Legacy and carries it into the next century and we call that new user interface Aqua because it's liquid. One of the design goals was when you saw it you wanted to lick it . . ." Steve Job, Macworld San Francisco 2000: this video
Cites itandaiMar 2026
“We call that new user interface Aqua, because it's liquid.”
Jobs introducing Aqua as liquid.
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"We call that new user interface Aqua, because it's liquid. One of the design goals was that when you saw it, you wanted to lick it!" 06:45 this video
