{"slug": "classic-mac-os", "name": "Classic Mac OS", "category": "os", "category_name": "Operating systems and desktop", "description": "", "recommenders": 3, "commenters": 4, "warners": 0, "score": 2.651, "rising": -0.98, "first": "2025-11-20", "latest": "2026-03-10", "why": "one with very well-considered user interface guidelines and principles.", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 4, "neutral": 0, "compare": 1, "warn": 0}, "spark": [1, 2, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "one with very well-considered user interface guidelines and principles.", "kind": "", "icon": false, "domain": null, "github_repo": null, "official_url": "", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["Classic Mac OS"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 753256656, "item_id": 47078541, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47078541", "by": "NoSalt", "date": "2026-02-19", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love Apple Macintosh OS 1.x through 9.x", "excerpt": "I have no idea ... it's just that 9 is the last, non OS X, Apple OS I used. It very well could look just like 8, which I also love. Actually, given the state of UI these days, I would go so far as saying that I love Apple Macintosh OS 1.x through 9.x. I miss the heady days of \"old school\" computing and the wild west of the nascent internet.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Resizing windows on macOS Tahoe \u2013 the saga continues"}, {"id": 740620112, "item_id": 46288757, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46288757", "by": "lproven", "date": "2025-12-16", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "All were great. Just such a pleasure to use", "excerpt": "Totally agreed regarding appearance etc. However, the one thing I'd take issue with: > As a programmer, I can point out all the many, many flaws with its technical architecture. I think, since we started out on history here, we must consider the history and its context. 1. Apple does the Lisa: a cheaper Xerox Alto, minus the networking and the programming language. Multitasking, hard disk based, new app paradign. The", "context": "", "use_case": "Desktop OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "In the Beginning was the Command Line (1999)"}, {"id": 737890961, "item_id": 46118185, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46118185", "by": "linguae", "date": "2025-12-01", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "one with very well-considered user interface guidelines and principles.", "excerpt": "As much as I love Jobs-era Mac OS X, particularly Tiger, Leopard, and Snow Leopard, I wholeheartedly agree with you: there\u2019s something about the classic Mac OS and its ecosystem of applications that felt truly like \u201ca computer for the rest of us,\u201d one with very well-considered user interface guidelines and principles. While Mac OS X was undoubtedly a major improvement in terms of stability and infrastructure, it is n", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Last Week on My Mac: Losing confidence"}, {"id": 737028802, "item_id": 46064300, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46064300", "by": "linguae", "date": "2025-11-26", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "the 1990s classic Mac OS (from a UI perspective, not necessarily a UX perspective due to stability issues)", "excerpt": "Indeed. Here\u2019s an article from Don Norman, author of The Design of Everyday Things and former Apple employee, that talks about Apple\u2019s decline in usability back in 2015: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-apples-products-so-confusing-ignore-design-don-norman?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_ios&utm_campaign=share_via Apple had usability experts like Bill Atkinson (RIP), Larry Tesler (RIP), Bruce Tognazzini, and Don", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Alan.app \u2013 Add a Border to macOS Active Window"}, {"id": 736007456, "item_id": 46000466, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46000466", "by": "linguae", "date": "2025-11-20", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "heavily based on the classic Mac OS", "excerpt": "My dream is to work on an operating system that at least gets us to the 1990s and 2000s when it comes to research ideas. I have a soft spot for the Smalltalk-80 environment and Lisp machines. They had a single address space. In my opinion, the two most interesting things about these environments are (1) their facilitation for component-based software based on live, dynamic objects, and (2) the malleability of the sys", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "New OS aims to provide (some) compatibility with macOS"}]}], "caveats": [], "who": [], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["desktop os"], "compared": [{"slug": "macos", "name": "macOS", "co": 3, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47279761", "title": "macOS Tahoe windows have different corner radiuses", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46997008", "title": "Resizing windows on macOS Tahoe \u2013 the saga continues", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46189905", "title": "In the Beginning was the Command Line (1999)", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46114599", "title": "Last Week on My Mac: Losing confidence", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46061239", "title": "Alan.app \u2013 Add a Border to macOS Active Window", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45997212", "title": "New OS aims to provide (some) compatibility with macOS", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {"recommend": 1}, "2025-12": {"recommend": 2}, "2026-01": {}, "2026-02": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-03": {"compare": 1}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {}, "2026-07": {}, "2026-08": {}, "2026-09": {}, "2026-10": {}}, "versions": [], "version_unnamed": 0, "family_ref": null, "runs_on": null, "lines": [], "quotes": [{"id": 757138273, "item_id": 47321142, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47321142", "by": "iainmerrick", "date": "2026-03-10", "version": null, "stance": "compare", "quote": "No consistency at all, isn't it infuriating?", "excerpt": "I dislike Tahoe too, but this particular thing is not new. I just did an image search for \"classic macos\" and one of the first hits was from https://www.versionmuseum.com/history-of/classic-mac-os. Look at those System 1 screenshots, from 42(!) years ago -- round corners on Puzzle and Calculator, square corners on Note Pad and Control Panel! No consistency at all, isn't it infuriating?", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "macOS Tahoe windows have different corner radiuses"}, {"id": 753256656, "item_id": 47078541, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47078541", "by": "NoSalt", "date": "2026-02-19", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love Apple Macintosh OS 1.x through 9.x", "excerpt": "I have no idea ... it's just that 9 is the last, non OS X, Apple OS I used. It very well could look just like 8, which I also love. Actually, given the state of UI these days, I would go so far as saying that I love Apple Macintosh OS 1.x through 9.x. I miss the heady days of \"old school\" computing and the wild west of the nascent internet.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Resizing windows on macOS Tahoe \u2013 the saga continues"}, {"id": 740620112, "item_id": 46288757, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46288757", "by": "lproven", "date": "2025-12-16", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "All were great. Just such a pleasure to use", "excerpt": "Totally agreed regarding appearance etc. However, the one thing I'd take issue with: > As a programmer, I can point out all the many, many flaws with its technical architecture. I think, since we started out on history here, we must consider the history and its context. 1. Apple does the Lisa: a cheaper Xerox Alto, minus the networking and the programming language. Multitasking, hard disk based, new app paradign. The", "context": "", "use_case": "Desktop OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "In the Beginning was the Command Line (1999)"}, {"id": 737890961, "item_id": 46118185, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46118185", "by": "linguae", "date": "2025-12-01", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "one with very well-considered user interface guidelines and principles.", "excerpt": "As much as I love Jobs-era Mac OS X, particularly Tiger, Leopard, and Snow Leopard, I wholeheartedly agree with you: there\u2019s something about the classic Mac OS and its ecosystem of applications that felt truly like \u201ca computer for the rest of us,\u201d one with very well-considered user interface guidelines and principles. While Mac OS X was undoubtedly a major improvement in terms of stability and infrastructure, it is n", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Last Week on My Mac: Losing confidence"}, {"id": 737028802, "item_id": 46064300, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46064300", "by": "linguae", "date": "2025-11-26", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "the 1990s classic Mac OS (from a UI perspective, not necessarily a UX perspective due to stability issues)", "excerpt": "Indeed. Here\u2019s an article from Don Norman, author of The Design of Everyday Things and former Apple employee, that talks about Apple\u2019s decline in usability back in 2015: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-apples-products-so-confusing-ignore-design-don-norman?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_ios&utm_campaign=share_via Apple had usability experts like Bill Atkinson (RIP), Larry Tesler (RIP), Bruce Tognazzini, and Don", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Alan.app \u2013 Add a Border to macOS Active Window"}, {"id": 736007456, "item_id": 46000466, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46000466", "by": "linguae", "date": "2025-11-20", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "heavily based on the classic Mac OS", "excerpt": "My dream is to work on an operating system that at least gets us to the 1990s and 2000s when it comes to research ideas. I have a soft spot for the Smalltalk-80 environment and Lisp machines. They had a single address space. In my opinion, the two most interesting things about these environments are (1) their facilitation for component-based software based on live, dynamic objects, and (2) the malleability of the sys", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "New OS aims to provide (some) compatibility with macOS"}]}